ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic today announced an expansion to its sports medicine practice to meet the growing regional, national and international demand for its expertise. The expansion is part of the 100,000-square-foot Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center building project, and is scheduled to open in spring of 2014. The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center is a global leader in sports and musculoskeletal injury prevention and rehabilitation, concussion research, diagnostic and interventional ultrasound, and surgical and nonsurgical management of sports-related injuries.

"Mayo Clinic is able to serve athletes of all levels in a multidisciplinary environment that can manage the entirety of our patients' needs," says Edward Laskowski, M.D., co-director of Mayo's Sports Medicine Center, who has served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under two administrations. "We have long served professional and amateur athletes involved in a wide variety of sports. This expansion will allow us to better serve our athletes with cutting-edge technology, facilities and programs."

The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center at the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center will contain state-of-the-art sports medicine and performance enhancement capabilities necessary to train all levels of athletes, including advanced motion analysis and strength equipment. It will contain multiple playing surfaces, such as wood for basketball and volleyball, artificial grass for turf sports, artificial ice for hockey, and specialized lifting platforms to enhance performance.

Further, it is designed to be one of the premier hockey training centers, and will include a Woodway Skating Treadmill and stick-handling and shooting-specific equipment.

"Our new, state-of-the-art training equipment along with the expertise of our physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists and strength/conditioning specialists creates the premier environment for hockey injury management and performance enhancement," says Michael Stuart, M.D., co-director of Mayo's Sports Medicine Center and chief medical officer for USA Hockey.

Clinical offerings in the new space will include Mayo Clinic's integrated, subspecialty practice, regenerative injections and diagnostic procedures, digital radiography, sport-specific rehabilitation, sports psychology, sports nutrition, and concussion diagnosis, treatment and prevention.