Many Marines and sailors will face physical injuries during their careers due to grueling training, continuous physical activity and demanding jobs.
To help Marines get back on their feet after sustaining a musculoskeletal injury Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Branch Medical Clinic is opening a Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Team Clinic, Feb. 1.
The SMART physicians at the clinic will help Marines and sailors recover from injuries faster, using the same approach as if they were professional athletes.
“We have taken everything we have learned from treating elite athletes and accelerating their return to whatever sport they play. We consider Marines like elite athletes,” said retired Navy Capt. Joseph Moore, the sports medicine advisor to Navy Medical West. “Our goal is to get them back on the line as quickly as possible.”
Many of the musculoskeletal injuries Marines incur are due to physical activities like running or participating in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.
After a service member checks into the Acute Care Clinic Marines they will be referred to the SMART Clinic if it’s a musculoskeletal injury. Marines and sailors who get injured throughout the work day can go to the Pronto Clinic in the SMART Clinic to get diagnosed and treated as fast as possible, commented Moore.
“The benefits to the SMART Clinics are that we give immediate treatment and diagnosis, aggressive rehabilitation and accelerated return to duty,” said Moore. “We try to keep them with their peer groups. That is our mantra.”
Since 1995, Moore has helped open 19 SMART Clinics on Marine Corps and Naval installations worldwide. The SMART Clinic physicians aboard the air station have more than 100 years of sports medicine experience combined, with many of them assisting at the Olympic, professional and college sport levels, commented Vinny Comiskey, an athletic trainer with the SMART Clinic.
The physicians at the SMART Clinic will give service members the correct diagnosis and tools to successfully recover from their injuries. Ultimately, it’s the injured individual’s responsibility to get back on their feet by doing rehabilitation work on their off time.
“We give them positive self talk. We let them know what exactly is wrong,” said Moore. “We will give them all the tools necessary and it’s all about them moving forward and staying motivated.”
More than 80 percent of patients who come to the BMC complain of musculoskeletal injuries, and the opening of the SMART Clinic will create a more efficient system for treating these service members and getting them back in the fight.
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