UPMC Sports Performance Complex
Encyclopedia
Sports science
Sport science is a discipline that studies the application of scientific principles and techniques with the aim of improving sporting performance...
, and sports medical
Sports medicine
Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...
complex of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is an $9 billion integrated global nonprofit health enterprise that has 54,000 employees, 20 hospitals, 4,200 licensed beds, 400 outpatient sites and doctors’ offices, a 1.5 million-member health insurance division, as well as commercial and...
. The complex is located along the shore of the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
and is unique in that it is the only facility in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
housing the practice and training facilities for both a collegiate NCAA football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
team and a professional National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
team, the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
Panthers
Pittsburgh Panthers football
Pittsburgh Panthers football is the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Traditionally the most popular sport at the university, Pitt football has played at the highest level of American college football...
and Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
respectively. It is also unique in that it combines these training facilities in one location with an academically based sports science and medicine program. The complex consists of four centers which include the Center for Sports Medicine, Sports Training Center, Indoor Training Center, and the Fitness and Conditioning Center located in three buildings along with four outdoor practice fields all situated on 40 acres (16.2 ha) of land. The UPMC Center for Sports Medicine located in the complex is an international destination for amateur and professional athletes alike for its training, medical, and rehabilitation studies and services.
Construction
The UPMC Sport Performance Complex was designed by the architectural firm L. D. Astorino Associates, Ltd.Louis D. Astorino
Louis D. Astorino is an architect in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who was architect of several high profile buildings in his hometown and is the first American architect to design a building in the Vatican....
Development was managed by Oxford Development Company and construction of the complex by Mascaro Construction was initiated in June 1999 and completed on September 5, 2000 although the Panthers and Steelers moved into their respective portions of the facility in August. The complex was completed at a cost reported from $30 to $80 million and, as part of Pittsburgh’s urban river-front revitalization effort, is located on the former site of the Jones & Laughlin
Jones and Laughlin Steel Company
The earliest foundations of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company were the American Iron Company, founded in 1851 by Bernard Lauth, and B. F. Jones founded in 1852a few miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in 1854 by James H. Laughlin...
, and later LTV
Ling-Temco-Vought
Ling-Temco-Vought was a large U.S. conglomerate which existed from 1969 to 2000. At its peak, its component parts were involved in the aerospace industry, electronics, steel manufacturing, sporting goods, the airline industry, meat packing, car rentals and pharmaceuticals, among other...
, steel mill in the SouthSide Works
Southside Works
SouthSide Works is an open-air retail, office, entertainment, and residential complex located on the South Side of the city of Pittsburgh and just across the Monongahela River from the Pittsburgh Technology Center and the University of Pittsburgh...
. The MRI room had to be encased in five layers of steel plate, plus a sixth layer of copper, in order to shield the MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
machines from the nearby CSX railroad tracks. Fill was also brought in to raise the level of the land where the practice fields are by nine feet in order to keep them out of the flood plain.
The Center for Sports Medicine
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
. The Center is overseen by renowned orthopedic surgeon Freddie Fu
Freddie Fu
Freddie H. Fu, M.D., is a pioneer and authority in sports medicine and recognized as a preeminent leader in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine across the globe....
, which has led to it often being referred to as "Freddie's building". In the Center for Sports Medicine building, both the Panthers and Steelers have on-site access to advanced comprehensive sports medicine care provided a team of sports medicine physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, athletic trainer
Athletic trainer
An athletic trainer is a certified, health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association as an allied health care profession since 1990....
s and physical therapists all who specialize in all types of specific sport-related injuries. The full-time sports medicine team also includes sub-specialists in, sport psychology
Sport psychology
Sport psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from the fields of kinesiology and psychology. It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors...
, sports nutrition
Sports nutrition
Sports nutrition is the study and practice of nutrition and diet as it relates to athletic performance. It is concerned with the type and quantity of fluid and food taken by an athlete, and deals with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, supplements and organic substances such as carbohydrates,...
, sports massage therapy, sports concussion and sports performance enhancement. The Center also conducts major injury prevention studies involving, for example, female knee ligament, shoulders, golf and cycling. It also serves as a research center for such areas as robotic surgery, stem cell tissue regeneration, concussion prevention and human motion.
The center’s Sports Concussion Program is directed by some of the country’s leading researchers in sports concussion management, including Mark Lovell, Ph.D., director of the NFL and NHL’s neuro-cognitive testing program. The program’s goals involve developing methods of evaluating the short- and long-term effects of concussion so that a better determination can be made as to when it is safe for an athlete to return to active sports following a concussion.
The center has private examination rooms, and on-site digital x-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
units, and an open magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
unit designed specifically for the types of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries commonly seen at the center. The diagnostic imaging equipment is highlighted by UPMC-developed filmless digital radiology workstations that provide high-precision x-ray and MRI displays in each of the 34 exam rooms that is instantly accessible on-site via computerized web-based images that can be stored as well as clearly transmitted for consultation anywhere in the world.
The center’s 6000 square feet (557.4 m²) physical therapy and rehabilitation area is fully equipped for physical therapists and athletic trainers to direct specific types of injury rehabilitation. The physical therapy and rehab area also has a 25-by-30-foot therapeutic pool and a functional gym providing athletes with functional assessment of their rehabilitation progress with their therapist on site. The training and rehabilitation gym is equipped with extensive circuit machines, free weights, and isokinetic and aerobic equipment, a plyometric training floor to help recovering athletes regain power and restore quick movement capabilities, and specialized equipment and training area to simulate an athlete’s performance requirements.
In addition to sports injury management, the center also provides a comprehensive Sports Performance Program that is individualized to each athlete, concentrating on achieving optimal athletic performance while preventing injury. The program usually begins with advanced neuro-musculoskeletal assessment in the center’s Neuromuscular Research Laboratory. Specific components of the program may include strengthening and conditioning, improving speed, agility and joint stability, identifying and managing any potential areas of weakness, injury prevention, sports massage therapy and nutrition counseling as well as sport-specific skills training. The Sports Performance Program serves a daily clientele with individualized goals for personal fitness and athletic performance ranging from world-famous elite and professional athletes to nationally known college athletes to local high school and recreational athletes. The Center also provides all of its services to many non-athletes with other types of musculoskeletal injuries related to physical activity.
Hundreds of elite athletes and famous individuals have been served at the UPMC Sport Performance Complex including, to name a few, golfer Greg Norman
Greg Norman
Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...
, Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
winners Miguel Indurain
Miguel Indurain
Miguel Ángel Indurain Larraya is a retired Spanish road racing cyclist. He won five consecutive Tour de Frances from 1991 and 1995, the first to do so, and the fourth athlete to win five times. He won the Giro d'Italia twice, becoming one of only seven people in history to achieve the Giro Tour...
and Greg LeMond
Greg LeMond
Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....
, wrestler Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle
Kurt Steven Angle is an American professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He is currently under contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is recognized as a 15-time World Heavyweight Champion...
, hockey star Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux, OC, CQ is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is acknowledged to be one of the best players of all time. He played 17 seasons as a forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League between 1984 and 2006...
, hurdler Roger Kingdom
Roger Kingdom
Roger Kingdom is a former sprint hurdler from the United States.Born in Vienna, Georgia, an athlete of note Roger excelled at the high jump and discus in his formative years as well as being a noteworthy American football player...
, football stars Dan Marino
Dan Marino
Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
and Jerome Bettis
Jerome Bettis
Jerome Abram "The Bus" Bettis is a retired American football halfback who played for the NFL's Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers. Bettis is considered one of the best big backs ever because his footwork and power, and is currently fifth on the National Football League's all-time...
, ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov is a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974...
, actress Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
, along with other athletes from the Panthers, Steelers, Duquesne Dukes
Duquesne Dukes
The Duquesne Dukes are the athletic teams of Duquesne University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Duquesne has played men's basketball only in NCAA Division I and has played football as a club team from 1891–1894, 1896–1903, 1913–1914, and 1920–1928, in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ...
, Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
, and Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
.
Indoor Practice Facility
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
football field, surrounding track, a racquetball court, and a separate strengthening/conditioning area. The indoor practice facility, which reaches 70 feet (21.3 m) high at its center ridge, is almost entirely taken up by a full-size indoor football field with a goal post at each end and surrounded by a four-lane running track. Located in a separate area of the indoor practice building is a 3300 square feet (306.6 m²) area fully equipped for the strengthening and conditioning components of the Sports Performance Program.
Panthers/Steelers Building
In their half of the building, the Panthers have installed a Panther Hall of Fame and a state-of-the-art training facility, which includes the Duratz Athletic Complex, which features expansive training rooms, team meeting and film-viewing rooms, weight rooms and dining facilities. It additionally houses coaching and administrative staff offices as well as the Panthers' academic support personnel. Each Panthers coach has their own meeting room for their positional players complete with state-of-the-art video capabilities. The quarterback meeting area was named the "Dan Marino
Dan Marino
Daniel Constantine "Dan" Marino, Jr. is a retired American football quarterback who played for the Miami Dolphins in the National Football League...
Room" in honor of the former Panthers quarterback and Hall of Famer and was dedicated in November 2000 when Marino returned to his alma mater for a special ceremony honoring his retirement from the NFL. Pitt's locker room features 128 lockers which are personalized for each Panthers player. Pitt's facilities also include the Hearst Academic Center for Student-Athletes that features a computer lab and student reference library as well as a full-time academic counselor and graduate assistant that are on hand to help the Panthers players in the classroom. The Panthers' weight room is furnished with the latest in training equipment and is utilized year-round for both offseason and in-season lifting regimens. Termed the "Pitt Iron Works", Pitt's weight room was named by Muscle & Fitness
Muscle & Fitness
Muscle & Fitness is an American bodybuilding magazine founded by Joe Weider, but now published by American Media, Inc.-History:Muscle & Fitness has a more mainstream focus than its companion publication, Flex...
magazine as one of the "top 10 toughest gyms in the United States" and has been lauded for providing one of the nation's most advanced training programs.
The Steelers, along with their training facilities, have installed a library in tribute to the Steelers founder, the late Art Rooney
Art Rooney
Arthur Joseph "Art" Rooney, Sr. , often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise in the National Football League.-Family history:...
.
Outdoors, there are four side-by-side 80-yard-long football practice fields which are ideally situated for private practices and have viewing towers and lighting for evening sessions. Three of the fields are natural turf and one was outfitted with Sportexe synthetic turf in June 2007.
In addition to being a major corporate sponsor of the teams, UPMC is the teams’ preferred health care and sports medicine provider. Injury evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation as well as UPMC’s Sports Performance Program all are available to the athletes on-site year round.