About the program
The Performing Artist Athletes Program at Boston Children’s Hospital is a multi-disciplinary team of specialists dedicated to treating performing artist athletes. We care for performing artist athletes of all ages and abilities, including:
- dancers
- gymnasts
- figure skaters
- cheerleaders
- musicians
Learn how we care for performing artist athletes
“ ... there was finally proof that the pain was not in my head.”
Performing artists devote significant time and energy to their arts. A sidelining injury has the potential to set a performer back both physically and emotionally. All of our physicians are certified in sports medicine, many of us were performing artists ourselves and have children who are performing artists. We went to medical school so we could help athletes and performing artists remain involved in the activities they love.
Why choose the Performing Artist Athletes Program?
We are leaders in promoting the health and wellbeing of performing artist athletes. Our research continually establishes standards and guidelines that performing arts medicine departments around the country are implementing.
Our team includes the team physicians for US Figure Skating and the Boston Ballet. We also have specialists in upper extremity injuries common among musicians and lower-extremity injuries common in gymnastics and cheering. As part of our care philosophy, we recommend non-surgical approaches as the first line of treatment whenever possible.
Our expertise, which we regularly tailor to our patients’ needs, includes:
- sports medicine
- sports medicine ultrasound
- hip preservation
- recovery from hand and upper extremity injuries
- sports psychology
- nutrition
- injury prevention
- performance enhancement and rehabilitation
- female athlete triad
We have the resources and expertise to care for the athlete as a whole, including medical, psychosocial and physical needs related to an athlete’s well being, injury, and performance.
Comprehensive services
The Performing Artist Athletes Program provides access to a wide range of services.
Our Sports Ultrasound Clinic enables our clinicians to examine injured muscles, ligaments, joints and soft tissues in real time while they are in motion. This helps us arrive at an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment plan for each individual patient.
Our Child and Young Adult Hip Preservation Program specializes in hip disorders that affect many dancers and gymnasts. Our comprehensive hip team is committed to treating hip disorders in the least invasive manner possible. Our team combines the expertise of non-operative sports medicine physicians and dynamic hip ultrasound to better understand the injury.
Our Hand and Orthopedic Upper Extremity Program treats a wide range of complex hand and upper limb conditions, including overuse injuries and nerve-compression injuries that affect many musicians.
Our Wu Tsai Female Athlete Program takes a comprehensive approach to keeping female athletes healthy and at the top of their game. Every two years, we host the Female Athlete Conference, a global event that presents strategies to prevent and treat clinical issues and injuries specific to female athletes.
When appropriate, we will refer our patients to The Micheli Center, a training facility with experienced trainers who can provide expert-level functional movement and gait analyses to facilitate safe and effective return to play.
Preventing performing arts injuries
Injury prevention series
Prevention is often the best way to avoid having to take time off from practice and performance. Our experts have put together a series of injury-prevention guides to help young athletes of all kinds remain active.
