Sports Medicine Program for Young Athletes

Specialized care for young athletes

According to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation, up to 5 million children in the U.S. are treated in emergency rooms each year for sports-related injuries.

PCH Sports Medicine for Young Athletes – part of the Center for Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery – focuses on injury prevention and dedicated care for growing athletes. 

Phoenix Children's has the only comprehensive Sports Medicine Program in the state that caters to the unique needs of child and teen athletes. 

Our commitment to kids

In growing children, injuries and medical problems in the bones, growth plates, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints are often quite different from conditions more commonly seen in adults.

The sports medicine team at Phoenix Children's can not only recognize those injuries, but also treat those injuries while understanding these kids and teens are still growing.

Through a comprehensive assessment, treatment, and follow-up care, young athletes get the support and treatment they need to recover and participate in physical activity.

The program also focuses heavily on sports injury prevention for kids. Considering that most sports injuries are preventable, education is a vital component to the program.

Read our sports injuries prevention information.

Bringing in top talent

Jeffrey Vaughn, DO, a sports medicine specialist trained specifically to work with young athletes, leads the PCH Sports Medicine Program at Phoenix Children's. He joins the division's list of talented doctors that includes Lee S. Segal, MD, who is guiding the growth of the Hospital's in-house pediatric orthopaedic program. 

Dr. Vaughn received his sub-specialty training in pediatric/adolescent sports medicine and arthroscopy through the only pediatric sports medicine fellowship program in the nation - Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School.  Read more about Dr. Vaughn.

With a nationwide shortage of physicians in the field (fewer than four percent of orthopaedists specialize in pediatrics), a rapidly growing community, and weather that supports year-round activity, PCH Sports Medicine for Young Athletes serves pediatric orthopaedic patients throughout the Southwest.

Related information

Orthopaedic surgeons

Sports medicine injuries, services, and conditions

The Fracture Clinic

Sports injury prevention