Want quick, accurate help on the sidelines or in the locker room? Cleveland Clinic to the rescue! Sports medicine physicians, led by Kurt Spindler, M.D., vice chairman of Research at Cleveland Clinic’s Orthopaedic & Rheumatologic Institute, have developed a first-of-its-kind app called “Sideline Guidelines.”
New App Lets Docs Address Injuries From the Sidelines
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The app contains medical information to aid in diagnosis, in assessing an individual athlete’s post-injury ability, making return-to-play decisions, and planning training schedules. The app, currently formatted for iPhone, can be used by sports medical professionals including fellows, residents, physicians, athletic trainers, and physical therapists.
Dr. Spindler joined Cleveland Clinic in 2014, after 23 years as head team physician, director of Sports Medicine, and vice chairman of orthopedics at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Spindler is also director of Orthopaedic Clinical Outcomes, and the academic director of Cleveland Clinic Sports Health.
Also participating in the development of this app were nationally renowned physicians and sports medicine experts from other specialties such as cardiovascular health, neurology and neurosurgery, abdominal/gastrointestinal, dermatology, dental, ear, nose and throat, and emergency medicine practitioners.
Dr. Spindler told OTW, “This app is a game-changer for medical professionals and athletes. With this app medical professionals will be better equipped to assess a situation by using the app as a decision-making guide. It was created with input from current and former head physicians for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians; top specialists from Ohio State, Vanderbilt and other universities helped compile the database.”
“The app opens up into three main sections. These are Emergency, Search, and Tools. In emergencies section are sudden death, heat illness, pulmonary emergencies, environmental (lighting etc.), and orthopaedic emergencies. This section is included for rapid reference. One scenario where it can be used is if an athlete has a head injury and suspected concussion. The diagnosis is not necessarily difficult; however the medical professional should refer to Sideline Guidelines app to review any potential red flags. For instance, what if it’s a not a case of a simple concussion but rather an intracranial bleed.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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