ZANESVILLE – Sports Medicine Zanesville will host a free sports physical clinic on Saturday, May 4. Open to all Ohio students, the event starts at 8 a.m. with physicals recommended by the Ohio High School Athletic Association prior to participation in athletics.

“This is a good opportunity for us to give back to our community and ensure that all our local student-athletes are prepared for the upcoming school year,” said Dr. James Gasparine of Sports Medicine Zanesville.

Sports Medicine Zanesville is sponsoring the event, which last year treated nearly 300 students free of charge. Gasparine and his fellow Sports Medicine Zanesville physicians and staff will volunteer their time for the May 4 event, and will be joined by six local primary care physicians and two nurse practitioners. The local volunteers include: Dr. Shelly Dunmyer, Dr. Anthony Flarey, Dr. Ronald Harvey, Dr. Maria Jamiolkowski, Dr. William Shade, Dr. Michael Zimmerer, Angie Pickens, NP and Samantha Cater, NP.

Schools are encouraged to reserve appointment times by emailing sports@orthozane.com or by calling 740-588-1089.

A link to the 2013-2014 OHSAA pre-participation physical evaluation form that all students should use can be found here: http://ohsaa.org/medicine/physicalform.htm

About Sports Medicine Zanesville

Sports Medicine Zanesville is a full-service, comprehensive, orthopaedic center, with a mission dedicated to relieving pain and restoring an active lifestyle in each patient. Sports Medicine Zanesville has a team of highly skilled, board certified orthopaedic surgeons and specialized health care professionals. For more information, visit www.smzanesville.com.

Football has supplanted baseball as America’s game. The only problem is football is one of our culture’s most violent sports. Last week, our partners, Sports Medicine Zanesville (SMZ) broke down the most common football injuries, from strains and sprains to fractures and concussions.

SMZ is committed to sports medicine and rehabilitation with a focus on local Zanesville athletes. We encourage you to visit smzanesville.com to read about these football injuries and for more information on the practice, location and contact information.

OAZ is proud to support Sports Medicine Zanesville (SMZ), a local orthopaedic sports medicine and rehabilitation center. SMZ recently launched a beautiful new website showcasing some of the community’s success stories. Please take a few moments to visit www.smzanesville.com – you’ll be glad you did!

In addition to patient testimonials, the new website offers pre- and post-op instructions, a breakdown of common surgeries, helpful information on how to prevent and treat concussions, and even its very own sports-themed blog.

Dr. James Gasparine leads the SMZ team, which you might notice consists of some familiar faces! For more information or to make an appointment with SMZ, please call 740-588-1089 or email smz@orthozane.com.

The blogosphere is like your local Walmart – you can pretty much find anything you’re looking for. With that said, this is a blog about a blog. It may sound strange, but we recently read about the most dangerous high school sports and found it fascinating.

According to a 28-year study from the National Center of Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina, fall high school sports resulted in 771 direct catastrophic injuries between 1982 and 2010. The study also reveals that 34 of these injuries were football related and two resulted in fatalities.

With the fall sports season right around the corner, it is important to remember to keep safety first. Coaches should teach players the proper techniques and insist student-athletes wear the right equipment at all times. Here is a list of sports prevention tips from Safe Kids USA. Our physicians and staff are proud members of some of Zanesville’s local sports teams, from high school to college, and want to ensure our community stays safe, on and off the field.

Running has long been considered one of the best ways to stay in shape. Unfortunately, people who run religiously know it can often lead to knee problems. This is evidenced by the term, “runner’s knee,” which describes any condition that causes pain in the front of a person’s knee. These injuries are most common among skiers, cyclists, soccer players and, of course, runners.

At OAZ we encourage our patients to lead active lifestyles, which is why we’re sharing these tips to avoid runner’s knee, complements of our friends at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:

• Exercise regularly to avoid weight gain.
• Gently stretch your muscles before use.
• Gradually increase the intensity or duration of your workouts, not all at once.
• When running, wear running shoes with sturdy, supportive construction.
• Practice good running form, bending your knees, slightly leaning forward and striking the ground with your mid foot. Watch this video to see proper running form.

Running is not only a great way to stay healthy and fit, but also relieves stress and eliminates depression. Take the time to practice proper habits, and you can run away from unnecessary injuries like runner’s knee.