Thirty years ago, Dr. Ralph D. Feigin recruited Dr. Albert Hergenroeder from Seattle to start an Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine Section at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital to address the growing need for quality, pediatric care of adolescent patients and young athletes with a variety of complex medical issues.
What began as a small section is now a burgeoning part of Texas Children’s Hospital with an ever-growing staff and a wide national reach. Each branch of the department conducts original research and sees more than ten thousand patients a year.
“We have accomplished a lot in the past three decades that have enabled us to put ourselves on the map as one of the best Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine programs in the country, and we are not slowing down,” Hergenroeder said. “The past few years have been filled with growth and expanded services, a trend we plan to continue for the foreseeable future.”
Sports Medicine
Sports Medicine specifically has undergone dramatic growth in the past couple of years adding four primary care physicians to the program’s existing three: Hergenroeder and Drs. Joe Chorley and Jorge Gomez. In addition to that, Texas Children’s Hospital has developed a robust sports physical therapy program. Led by Dr. Gabriel Brooks, the program has more than 30 sports medicine physical therapists located around the Houston area.
“Most of the conditions that we see in sports medicine don’t need surgery,” Hergenroeder said. “However, the vast majority need at least some physical therapy consultation. With the proper diagnosis, it is the sports specific physical therapy that helps them improve and makes it less likely they will be reinjured.”
The bulk of what the Sports Medicine program does is care for children, adolescents and young adults who are hurt while doing some sort of physical activity. The section’s staff also specializes in other sports related problems, such as concussions, the unique problems of the female athlete and the staff refers to their orthopedic surgical colleagues who have specific training in sports medicine and pediatric orthopedic issues to perform surgery when necessary. The primary care sports medicine and orthopedic physicians work as one team. Their goal is to get their patients back on the field, dance floor, or wherever they go to remain physically fit.
“We are a comprehensive sports medicine program, Hergenroeder said, and what makes us different from other sports medicine programs in the city is that we’re pediatric based. We understand the pediatric and adolescent athlete as we were trained as pediatricians and adolescent medicine physicians first, and specialized in sports medicine with an emphasis on the young athlete.”
Members of the team are located at Main and West campuses, and are in Texas Children’s Health Centers across the greater Houston area, including Sugar Land, Cy-Fair and The Woodlands.
Adolescent Medicine
The Adolescent Medicine program in the Adolescent Medicine & Sports Medicine Section is one of the best in the best in the country with a staff of five adolescent medicine physician specialists, three psychologists and a dietitian.
The staff takes care of complicated problems in adolescents and young adults such as eating disorders, obesity, chronic fatigue, polycystic ovarian syndrome and reproductive health issues. The division has an inpatient component, an outpatient clinic and is developing an intensive outpatient program that will act as a bridge between the two.
“Typically, we take care of the sickest, most medically fragile patients with eating disorders,” Hergenroeder said, adding that this division does research to advance the medical care of such complex issues. “We believe we are one of the best eating disorder programs in the U.S.”
Hergenroeder said he plans on continuing to grow this part of the section and that in five to 10 years he expects the program to continue to be one of the premier adolescent medicine programs in the country.
For more information about adolescent medicine click here and for more information about sports medicine click here.