University of Cincinnati's adaptive sports clinic combines medicine, engineering to serve patients

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Victoria Heasley entered medical school on the lookout for a specialty that would blend her passion for biomedical engineering with clinical practice. 

“I wanted to help make devices, and I didn't know what type of devices at the time, but it was very apparent to me that physicians and engineers really don't speak the same language,” Heasley said. “So I decided to be both to bridge that gap.”

Throughout medical school and residency, she found herself drawn to sports medicine and to physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), a specialty that focuses on enhancing and restoring functional ability and quality of life for people with physical impairments or disabilities. Within PM&R, she found her niche in adaptive sports medicine.

Now, she combines her expertise as an engineer and physician to operate an adaptive sports clinic, treating patients and designing specialized sports equipment for people with disabilities. Heasley is one of about 15 adaptive sports physicians in the country operating a clinic like this.

Patients at the adaptive sports clinic range from professional wheelchair basketball players to people who are brand new to adaptive sports and looking to increase their physical activity. 

“A lot of my patients come to me because they are looking for a sense of community,” said Heasley, MD, assistant professor in UC’s Colleges of Medicine and Engineering and Applied Science and a UC Health physician. “They're looking for something other than physical therapy, and they want to find their people and find their connections.”

While adaptive athletes could go to a traditional sports medicine clinic for something like a shoulder injury, the adaptive sports clinic provides more comprehensive, multidisciplinary care involving physicians, engineers and physical therapists specifically trained to treat these patients.

“Unfortunately for adaptive athletes, research shows that they don't know where to go to get care,” Heasley said. “Sports medicine and primary care physicians are willing to see adaptive athletes, but they've never been trained in it. So the adaptive sports clinic fills a huge gap in care.”

Because each patient is different, each piece of equipment usually needs to be designed for their specific needs.

“For adaptive sports, it’s not like you can go to Walmart and buy a baseball glove off the shelf,” Heasley said. “There's only so much equipment out there, and it's certainly not one-size-fits-all. We'll help design something or we'll modify existing equipment, create something from scratch or work with any combination. So we are thinking outside the box for sure.”

The equipment design process can take time, as each iteration is tested by the athlete, and the team makes adjustments till they find the perfect fit. 

Heasley teaches a senior capstone biomedical engineering course where students work on building adaptive equipment for patients she sees in the clinic. Heasley and her students have helped design equipment for athletes to play sports that include power soccer, sled hockey, adaptive skiing and adaptive archery. 

“I think my favorite part of my career is when I get to literally hand them something that I was helping design and then I get to see them do whatever sport or whatever activity it is,” Heasley said. “My patients always say something similar to, ‘Wow, I never thought I could do this ever again.’ Or, ‘I never thought this was possible.’ And then I get to see them actually do it, and I think that's what keeps me going.” 

Out of her passion for adaptive sports, Heasley helped cofound The Bridge Adaptive Sports and Recreation, a nonprofit that serves as a hub to increase awareness and promote opportunity for individuals to participate in adaptive sports in the Tristate area. She was also part of the team that helped launch UC’s adaptive sports program this fall and will serve as the program’s team doctor.

“It’s really cool to see everything come together, and it’s an opportunity for UC to be this adaptive sports hub where we’re including students of all ages to be able to compete around the community,” she said. “And then students are researching and designing adaptive sports equipment and being trained in adaptive athletic training, physical therapy, and strength and conditioning. Between medicine, engineering and allied health, it’s really nice to see a pure example of interdisciplinary work coming together. And I think there’s so many more people we can involve too.”