Caelia Thomas, captain of the girls’ varsity soccer team at Ithaca High School, got back her kick with help from sports medicine specialists and physical therapists at the Cayuga Wellness Center.
During Caelia Thomas’s freshman year on the girls’ junior varsity soccer team at Ithaca High School, pain started radiating from just below her knee. She had excelled in soccer for years and the ache now affected the enjoyment she got from the sport.
Testing by Dr. Andrew Getzin, clinical director of Sports Medicine and Athletic Performance at Cayuga Wellness Center, found Caelia’s pain was due to the way her knee responded to a demanding training load. The condition led to a painful inflammation.
Several months of physical therapy at the Cayuga Wellness Center allowed Caelia to continue playing fall soccer and compete on the high school track team last spring. During her therapy, sports medicine physicians regularly re-evaluated her knee. Along with the physical therapy staff members Brian Lee, PT, OCS, CSCS; Colleen Robinson, PT, DPT, OCS; and Rob Kaplan, PT, DPT, MTC, Cert MDT, the treatment team analyzed her gait and developed a training program that taught her ways to move that reduced the risk of re-injury.
“All of her therapy got done right here in Ithaca,” says Chris Thomas, Caelia’s father who coaches youth soccer in Ithaca. “We are very fortunate to have this level of care in the community.” Caelia, now 16 and a junior at Ithaca High School, is captain this season of the varsity girls’ soccer team and expects to be running in the spring track season.
The hospitals’ programs from orthopedic surgery to sports medicine to physical therapy and rehabilitation get patients back to their sports, their jobs, and their active lives. The comprehensive programs connect the Cayuga Medical Center and Schuyler Hospital with Cayuga Wellness Center in Ithaca, providing patients with high-quality, seamless care from diagnosis, to surgery and physical therapy in their local communities.
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