The doctor who came on the Ford Field turf in Detroit to attend to injured Western Kentucky University defensive back Tyree Robinson in a recent bowl game is the same sports medicine specialist who attends to injured Logan County High School football players.
The new LCHS team physician honed his sports-related injuries skills while learning from the world’s most famous orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, who sportscaster Dan Patrick says should get votes for NFL MVP for the work he did on the badly injured knee of 2000-yard rusher Adrian Peterson.
Through an agreement between Orthopedics Plus and Logan County High School, Dr. Umar Khan is doubling as the team physician for Cougar athletes and WKU football.
LCHS Athletic Director Hugh McReynolds explains, “The employment of an athletic trainer is a joint venture between the Logan County Athletic Booster Club, Orthopedics Plus Physical Therapy, Western Kentucky Sports Medicine Associates (Dr. Umar Khan) and the Logan County Board of Education.
“The employment of Amber Mack, ATC as Logan County High School’s new certified trainer has brought a broader coverage/assistance to our student athletes in the area of medical services. With the increased emphasis on player safety brought about by numerous high profile cases across the country, the employment of an athletic trainer by the school district was the next logical step. Dr. Umar Khan serves as Logan County High School’s team physician and the trainer’s direct supervisor. She works at Orthopedics Plus in the mornings and then arrives at LCHS around 2:30 p.m. each day and stays until around 5 or 5:30 pm. She will be in attendance at all home/away varsity football games and at other home sporting events as time permits.”
Dr. Khan opened his practice at Western Kentucky Sports Medicine Associates in February 2012. A former semi-professional football player, Dr. Khan understands the unique injuries of athletes. He partners with physical therapists, athletic trainers and orthopedic surgeons to manage sports-related injuries and get young athletes back into the game.
Dr. Kahn says, “My job is to keep the athletes off the operating table as much as possible and get them back on the playing surface quickly and safely.” He tries to find appropriate solutions that don’t involve injections and/or surgery. If those actions become necessary, however, he is associated with orthopedic surgeons and hospitals.
The doctor, who grew up in Augusta, Ga., has been part of medical crews on the fields of football games for the University of Alabama and in the NFL. He was recommended for the team physician role at WKU by Dr. Craig Beard, an orthopod who has been associated with Hilltopper football since he played for the team.
“I liked the idea of being able to have an office which is close to home and work with easy-to-get-to physical therapy,” he says of his move to the Bowling Green area. His Western Kentucky Sports Medicine Associates is located in the D1 facility at 165 Natchez Trace in Bowling Green. He is also associated with Greenview Hospital.
Dr. Kahn is gaining acclaim for his treatments using Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy, which involves a small amount of the patient’s own blood being drawn and placed into a special centrifuge. After the blood undergoes the procedure, it is injected back into the patient. New collagen begins to develop, strengthen and tighten damaged tendons or ligaments.
Also on the sidelines for LCHS sports is trainer Amber Mack, who works at the Russellville branch of Orthopedics Plus Physical Therapy and Performance Health and Fitness. She does the pre-game taping and is ready to assist athletes after each injury. When she feels the injury needs more attention that she is qualified to administer, she immediately gets in touch with Dr. Khan. He attended several of the Cougars’ football games.
“Dr Khan is such a great team doctor,” she says. “He is always available for consult even when he can’t make a game.”
Mack is originally from Indianapolis. She went to Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio and received her Bachelors in Athletic Training, in 2006. After college she moved to Savannah, Ga. and studied at Armstrong Atlantic State University, earning her Masters in Sports Medicine in 2012.
While living in Savannah, she worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer at AASU and as a physical therapy aide at Memorial University Health. She then was athletic trainer for Savannah High School for four years.
In her free time she enjoys being involved with church ministries, singing, running, working out, and cheering for the Colts and Notre Dame.
Jase Pinerola heads Orthopedics Plus. For more information about Orthopedics Plus Physical Therapy and Performance Plus Health and Fitness, see a December 2011 article on The Logan Journal at http://www.theloganjournal.com/Stories.aspx?Article=features47