New York-Presbyterian, in collaboration with physicians from Columbia University Irving Medical Center, has opened a sports medicine and performance training facility in the Vernon Place Shops center near the Scarsdale-Eastchester line.
The 9,600-square-foot facility at 693 White Plains Road offers advanced sports medicine, performance training and comprehensive orthopedic care using state of the art equipment and techniques. Sports training services are offered through the company EXOS, which provides training to the military, athletes and corporations among others.
One of those attending the opening event and ribbon-cutting on April 9 was former New York Yankees star pitcher Mariano Rivera. He told the Business Journal that in his opinion sports medicine is important for young athletes as well as professionals. “To have a place like this in Westchester County, having something like this is special,” he said.
Rivera said that the facility compares very favorably with facilities he”™s seen and had to use during his professional sports career.
“We have to do whatever it takes to take care of ourselves; that means eating, that means whatever we put in or body matters, and we have to be conscious of that and consider that we don”™t get any younger. So as days, years pass by, we have to make sure we do the right thing to take care of our body and having a place like this in our community is something special.”
William Levine, chief of orthopedics at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told the Business Journal that the significance of opening a facility in a retail environment “is the concept of taking doctors”™ offices, physical therapy and sports performance and putting it in one place.” He said that it is New York-Presbyterian’s belief that its Sports Performance Institute will be the “go-to” location in the New York region to see orthopedic and sports medicine physicians, receive physical therapy and work on improving sports performance.
Cost of space was a consideration in determining where to locate the facility. Levine said, “The reality is that real estate is pretty expensive in Manhattan, so why not come to Westchester County where we”™re already at Lawrence Hospital doing incredible things in orthopedics and in nonoperative sports medicine, so it seemed like a perfect fit.”
Christopher Ahmad, chief of sports medicine at NY-P/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and head team physician for the New York Yankees and New York City Football Club, said, “This will be the first time athletes in the Westchester region will be able to access the services of an academic sports medicine department alongside the training, conditioning, and performance services that are typically only available to professional athletes.” He said that high school and college athletes will have access to services at the institute that could help prevent injuries.
The institute features facilities for medical examination and surgical consultation, diagnostic X-ray and ultrasound, treatment rooms for injections, biologic therapies, casting, orthotics and brace-fitting. The array of sports performance training equipment ranges from anti-gravity treadmills to weight-training sets.
In addition to serving athletes of all levels of capability and age, the institute is intended to provide care to orthopedic patients.
“People today are living longer and in a much more active fashion,” Levine said. “We want to provide care for people participating in sports activities whether they”™re eight or 80.”
