UAMS opens new orthopaedic and sports medicine clinic in Little Rock

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday (July 15) to celebrate the opening of the new UAMS Health Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic on Rodney Parham, located in the Premier Medical Plaza at 10901 N. Rodney Parham Road, Suite 7.

The new clinic — the largest of UAMS’ nine orthopaedic clinics across the state — occupies 32,770 square feet of renovated space previously used by 10 Fitness. It combines services offered in two previous locations in Little Rock — the UAMS Health Orthopaedic Clinic at 600 Autumn Road, and the UAMS Health Orthopaedic Clinic at 2 Shackleford West Blvd.

“This location blends traditional orthopaedic therapy, women’s health/pelvic floor therapy, and spine therapy, along with a return to sports and performance offerings,” said Christopher Oholendt, manager for UAMS Outpatient Therapy and Sports Performance. “The goal is to provide any athlete or weekend warrior with one location to guide them throughout their healing journey. If they also want to extend their traditional therapy into performance, that is also available on a fee-for-service basis.”

Oholendt said the clinic will have data-driven equipment to offer performance programming for adolescent baseball/softball pitchers in the community, and that other performance offerings will focus on adolescent athlete injury prevention and performance.

“We want to assist community personal trainers and coaches to ensure their athletes remain healthy and can continue their training journey,” he said.

“At UAMS, we are proud of this new facility, which features a wide range of services to accommodate patients of all activity levels who are recuperating from injuries, arthritis or other orthopaedic issues, whether it involves the shoulder, elbow, hand, spine, hip, knee, foot or ankle, as well as people focused on sports performance,” said UAMS Chancellor C. Lowry Barnes.

The new clinic is located on two floors at the east end of the medical plaza, which also houses the UAMS Health Urology Clinic and the UAMS Health Imaging Center, both at 10915 N. Rodney Parham Road.

Physical therapy, hand therapy, and a new sports performance center occupy nearly 8,000 square feet of space on the first floor, while the second floor includes almost 25,000 square feet of clinic space.

The comprehensive array of services will allow patients to move seamlessly from diagnosis to treatment to rehabilitation under one roof, while allowing anyone with performance goals to move better, train safely, and perform at a higher level while reducing risk of injury.

“We are all excited about this new location,” said Dale Blasier, M.D., interim chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation. “It’s modern, new, and state of the art. It’s a great way to showcase our ortho team.”

UAMS Health’s orthopaedic and sports medicine team includes fellowship-trained surgeons, primary care sports medicine doctors, and certified therapy specialists.