/images/pg/ortho_services.gif"> SPORTS MEDICINE /images/ortho/sportsmed_ski.jpg" border="1" align="right" vspace="5" hspace="5">The sports medicine program of Carolina Orthopedic Associates has several goals. The first is to encourage an active lifestyle throughout our community. We do this by event and team sponsorship and participation and we do this by providing pre-participation physical evaluations and by providing pre-participation conditioning programs for those interested in starting or returning to a given sport. The second goal of this program is to lessen the injury potential for athletes in organized, competitive sports programs such as our area high schools and university. /images/ortho/poloplayers.jpg" border="1" align="left" vspace="5" hspace="5"> We do this through group pre-participation physical exams coordinated through the teams' coaches and athletic directors; by donating the proceeds of these physicals back to the respective programs for the purchase of safety equipment, and by conducting periodic sports medicine seminars for the coaches and trainers. Additionally, our doctors attend many of the games as team physicians and we co-sponsor, with the University of South Carolina at Aiken Athletic Trainers Program, trainers to work with the individual schools. The third goal of this program is to rehabilitate the injured athlete. This we do by providing the highest quality evaluation, surgical treatment, and physical rehabilitation.