Sports Clinics: Prevention, Rehabilitation Are the Goals : Sophisticated Equipment Help in Speeding Recovery

At first glance, most sports rehabilitation clinics look like health spas.

They have stationary bicycles, treadmills, weight machines, whirlpool baths and locker rooms.

But many clinics also have equipment that uses high-voltage stimulation and other advanced techniques to help get the injured back on their feet.

There are about a dozen Orange County sports clinics treating athletes and non-athletes.

“There are a lot of people in the sports medicine field,” said Gary Tuthill, a former trainer for the Rams who owns and operates Tuthill Athletic Rehabilitation Institute in Garden Grove. “It’s become very vogue to be in sports medicine.

“You have your weekend jocks, bicyclists and skiers who are recovering from injuries at a sports clinic. I have people calling me, asking where to go with a knee injury because they think all I do is sports medicine.”

Tuthill has helped such sport celebrities as Joe Namath and Rick Burleson recover from career-threatening injuries. He also has helped Katella High School center Richard Lucas and former Servite quarterback Steve Beuerlein.

Fees usually run from $35-$50 per visit, and doctors often prescribe three treatments a week for patients, whose treatment periods can last two months or more. So the cost of rehabilitation, for people without adequate insurance, can be steep. Workman’s compensation insurance covers all therapy treatment costs, but most insurance coverages through high schools do not cover all such fees.

Dr. Robert E. Cassidy, an orthopedic surgeon who operates the Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Institute in Huntington Beach, said he will help any needy prep athlete who can’t afford rehabilitation treatment.

Cassidy, team doctor for Golden West College and medical adviser for the six high schools in the Huntington Beach Union High School District, has the county’s largest sports medicine clinic.

He has 18 examining rooms and can perform outpatient surgery at a nearby office. Roger Taillon, a registered physical therapist, is the director of the center.

Cassidy, who primarily handles high school and junior college athletes, agreed with Tuthill that most sports clinics are trendy in within the world of medicine.

Cassidy: “Right now, everybody is on the bandwagon, trying to drum up business by saying they’re a sports medicine institute. To be honest, a knee injury is a knee injury. There is only one difference.

“When a professional athlete gets hurt, you’re talking about his livelihood. No play, no pay.”

Taillon says the Huntington Beach facility offers patients a transition between surgery and returning to the health spa. The institute has 10 registered therapists, each with an aide. The facility can treat 190 patients per day.

“I would estimate that 60% of our practice is for knee-related problems,” Taillon said. “The most important thing we do here with athletes is slow them down. We try to teach them about their injury and the process of recuperating.”

Both Tuthill and Taillon agreed that the biggest mistake a patient can make is trying to return too quickly from an injury.

“A guy will have back surgery, come here to rehabilitate for six weeks and then say he’s fine,” said Tuthill, who treats about 50 patients per day. “He sees how much it’s costing and decides he doesn’t need three months of treatment.

“Most people need the guidance we can offer after they’ve had major surgery.

“If a football player suffers a pinched nerve in his neck, I can prescribe the proper equipment so that he can play again. The protective phase of athletics . . . now that’s sports medicine.”