To many, the grand jeté is graceful dance leap, but to Ohio State medical professionals it is an athletic movement that must be done with proper form.
The OSU performing arts medicine team now has a new facility, the Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute, located northwest of campus. The new $45-million facility, which opened in September, includes a dance floor and ballet bars that allow the performing arts medical staff to provide more private and hands-on rehabilitation care with their clients.
The performing arts medicine team is a subset of sports medicine at the Wexner Medical Center, and focuses on health and wellness for active artists including dancers, gymnasts and musicians, according to its website. Its services include athletic training, chiropractic care, wellness workshops and cross training classes.
Even with the new location, its mission remains the same in informing dancers of the resources the team offers in an effort to ensure proper movement technique and overall wellness.
Hope Davis-Coen, the team’s leader, said she has a goal of informing dancers of the importance of tending to minor injuries
“We work with a lot of professional dancers … they work the same level as any other professional athlete,” Davis-Coen said. “Unlike the grumbling you hear from football players, my dancers are quiet and you barely see them sweat on stage. In reality, backstage they are out of breath and tending to injuries, because they work really hard.”
After being sidelined for six months with a back injury early in her previous dance career, Davis-Coen decided to go into the medicine field, specializing in performing arts. She saw a need for medical professionals who understand how to modify technique and understand the demands on a dancer’s body.
The performing arts medicine team checks for injuries at least twice a month in the Ohio State departments of dance and music. They also work on site every day and travel with Columbus’ BalletMet professional dance company and studio.
“We have our hands in so many things, but we want to make sure we are giving a solid product,” Davis-Coen said. “That’s our ultimate goal. When you have a patient that is happy and back to performing, that is the best kind of advertisement you can have. We pride ourselves in patient care.”
Davis-Coen said she is proud of the growth of the performing arts medicine team and the support it receives from the entire sports medicine department, especially with its space in the new sports medicine facility.
“Ohio State’s Sports Medicine program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-mission integrated model whose value is creating synergies and collaborations between all the diverse areas of expertise at Ohio State which promote physical activity across the lifespan,” said Dr. Christopher Kaeding, executive director of sports medicine in a press release. “The Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute will be a focus of collaboration between the academic, medical and athletic programs to make The Ohio State University a national leader in academic sports medicine.”
