From an evening walk-in clinic with one doctor and a few therapists to a clinic that sees 150 patients a day and operates 2,700 hours a year, the David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic has been treating sports-related injuries for over 60 years.
Located in the basement of the University of Toronto’s Athletic Centre, this clinic is the oldest dedicated sports medicine facility in the world. In the 1990s, the clinic was named after Dr. David L. MacIntosh, a pioneer in the area of orthopaedic surgery, who began working at Hart House in the 1950s. MacIntosh was the first in the world to develop ACL injury diagnosis and ACL repair surgery. In addition, he was a physician for the Varsity Blues’ football and hockey teams for 25 years.
Marcel Charland, a certified athletic therapist and sport massage therapist, explained what makes the clinic unique is that “the comprehensive care an athlete receives at the MacIntosh clinic is world-class. Very few clinics have physiotherapists, athletic therapists, massage therapists, physicians, and orthopaedic surgeons all working together towards a common goal.”
Sandy Heming, another physiotherapist, said that she applied for the position because the opportunity to be in a clinic and on the field made the position a dream job.
“It’s a great clinic to work at. I have been here 12 years… it is a unique place; it is different. The atmosphere is fun here because everyone wants to get better and get back to doing what they want to do,” said Heming.
Clinic Manager Marr Kelly describes the staff as “a pretty tight-knit group of people, because we have such a small space to work in, and that makes this place unique.” Kelly began working at the clinic as a student at U of T, and has continued working there since then; she now oversees the clinic’s operations.
This clinic also serves as a teaching facility for kinesiology, athletic therapy, physiotherapy, and medical students. Charland did his placement as an athletic therapist student at the clinic in 1982; now, he mentors and teaches students.
“One of the things that makes this job so great is we not only have the opportunity to be in the clinic or on the field, but you also have the opportunity to mentor students and teach them,” said Charland.
“By teaching, you are also learning and the students also keep you current to a certain extent. It’s a great clinic for that — always having new students and new ideas.”
The clinic also includes a concussion clinic, which started around 1999 as solely a research effort. Dr. Michael Hutchison, the director of the concussion program, describes a concussion as “a type of traumatic brain injury [that] is recognized as a clinical syndrome of biomechanically induced alteration of brain function.”
Concussions can result from a direct blow to the head or the body. Other members of the research team include Dr. Doug Richards, Dr. Paul Comper, and Dr. Lynda Mainwaring. The clinic has been providing comprehensive care for sport-related concussions for approximately three years. In the 2012–2013 year, the clinic saw over 250 sport-related concussions.
The staff has experience working with athletes coming from a wide range of sports, and sees all manner of patients from weekend warriors to Olympians.
Dr. Ian Cohen, one of the sports physicians, joined the clinic staff in 1990 and has been working in sport medicine ever since he began practicing. Cohen’s experience as a sport physician extends from the Varsity Blues men’s ice hockey team and the national sailing team to the Toronto Argonauts.
Cohen was also a member of the medical staff at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, along with MacIntosh clinic colleague Dr. Mark Leung. Leung is currently one of the team physicians with the men’s national basketball team.
Meanwhile, Charland attended the 1988 Winter Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics as a therapist, and has been selected as an alternate therapist for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Other staff members have also been selected as part of Team Canada’s medical staff at national and international levels of competition, such as the Pan Am Games and the Commonwealth Games. In addition to their responsibilities at the MacIntosh Clinic and working with varsity teams, some members of the staff are also involved, or has been involved, with national teams or professional teams — including the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto Argonauts, and the Toronto FC.
For the staff at the MacIntosh Clinic, the job is not simply a 9–5 occupation; it involves weekends, mornings, late nights, and travelling with the assigned teams.
Despite Charland’s vast accomplishments and memorable moments in his career, he says that it is always great when he rehabilitates a patient and is able to see them back on the court, the field, or the ice.
