BY SHANNON MORTLAND
At 17, a local high school basketball player had already torn his ACL once. When it happened again, his future in the sport was suddenly in doubt.
Dr. Paul Saluan had a plan.
The orthopedic surgeon realigned the boy’s bone and adjusted the slope of his tibia to reduce the risk of another tear. Today, the athlete is back on the court.
Voos
Saluan
Stories like this are at the heart of a growing sports medicine ecosystem in Northeast Ohio — one that is shifting its focus from reacting to injury to keeping athletes healthy in the first place.
Saluan, who directs strategic initiatives and clinical development for the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Peak Performance Center, sees athletes in the office and in surgery every week. Though trained in pediatrics, about 75% of his patients are athletes up to age 25.
The Clinic’s Peak Performance Center —
a 210,000-square-foot facility opening in summer 2027 — will serve as a training home for the Cleveland Cavaliers while also welcoming community members and athletes from around the world, with space for clinical visits and diagnostics.
“The more relevant data that you have in a system, the more actionable insights you’ll be able to develop for these athletes,” Saluan tells JStyle.
But doctors are seeing a troubling trend: the injuries that once showed up in college athletes are now appearing in middle schoolers.
“Kids are focusing on a sport earlier,” says Dr. James Voos, chair of orthopedic and sports medicine at University Hospitals and head team physician for the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Ballet. Many young athletes now play one sport year-round, chasing college scholarships — and paying a physical price.
“If you’re using one body part 365 days a year, that body part is going to get more beat up,” Saluan says. Overuse accounts for roughly half of all sports injuries.
The most common injuries today include ACL tears, elbow ligament tears, tendonitis and inflammation. ACL tears are four times more common in females than males — a reflection, Saluan says, of how dramatically female participation in sports has grown.
Both Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals have expanded care well beyond their walls. Through partnerships with 80 local schools, UH trainers and physicians are now present at youth sporting events throughout the region.
“Someone may tear their ACL during a game … and your physician is right there with you with their feet in the grass,” Voos tells JStyle. Within minutes, the team can evaluate the injury, communicate with parents and begin a care plan — eliminating dangerous delays in treatment.
One area both institutions say has been long overlooked: women’s sports medicine. Only about 5% of research dollars have historically been spent on female athletes — a figure Saluan calls “unacceptable.” Both the Clinic and UH are now building programs specifically designed to address that gap.
Prevention, doctors say, starts with education. Young athletes are being introduced to age-appropriate exercise, and parents are being reminded that a 12-year-old should not be training like a 16-year-old.
Even as the pressure around elite competition and scholarships intensifies, Voos keeps returning to a simple idea.
“Overall, sports is a very positive thing,” Voos says. “We try to remind people that sports is fun.”
For the basketball player who tore his ACL twice before finishing high school, that reminder came in the form of a surgeon with a plan — and a path back to the court.