Classrooms and Teaching Facilities

The classroom and teaching facilities located in Fetzer Gymnasium are large and were newly renovated in 2006 to be state-of-the art technological instructional facilities.  The Fetzer Athletic Training Clinic serves a dual role as both a clinical facility and a laboratory teaching facility.

 

Cadaver Anatomy Laboratory

The Cadaver Anatomy Laboratory located in Fetzer Gymnasium provides for an excellent learning environment for both graduate and undergraduate students. The laboratory houses two cadavers throughout the academic year. The graduate class (EXSS 732) begins dissection of the cadavers in August and completes dissection in December. An undergraduate advanced anatomy lab (EXSS 275L) runs concurrently (same semester) with the graduate class. The cadavers are again used during the Spring semester for the undergraduate anatomy class (EXSS 175). To our knowledge, our department is one of only a few Exercise and Sport Science Departments nationally that has a lab of this nature housed directly within the department.

 

Athletic Training Clinics

Students in the Athletic Training specialization may be assigned to work clinically in one of four athletic training facilities staffed by the Division of Sports Medicine. An athletic training clinic located in Kenan Stadium is well equipped to service the football program, while the Smith Center athletic training clinic is well equipped to service men's basketball and the swimming program. The physical therapy clinic, renovated in 2006, in the Campus Health Service is used not only to treat student-athlete's but also serves as a physical therapy treatment facility for students, faculty and the community. The athletic training clinic in Fetzer Gymnasium is used to treat the remaining 24 Olympic Sport teams. Plans are currently in place to replace this clinic with a new facility in the late spring of 2009.(see Future Sport Medicine Facility. ) All facilities are extremely well-equipped with variety of treatment tables, therapeutic modalities and other equipment.

Library Resources and Instructional Aids

We are fortunate to be at a Research I University that is interested in taking a leadership role in advancing learning through the overwhelming availability and accessibility of technology and information currently offered on the internet. It is also true that the existing library holdings for the Athletic Training specialization are excellent. Therefore, we have either direct or web access to essentially all professional texts and journals related to our field.

Sports Medicine Research Laboratory

The Sports Medicine Research Laboratory in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science opened its doors in July 1996, and joined efforts with the Department of Orthopaedics and the Curriculum in Human Movement Science (Department of Allied Health Sciences) for collaborative research in January 1999.  The 1700 sq.ft. facility, located on the ground floor of Fetzer Gymnasium, is used by faculty, graduate students, residents, fellows, and undergraduate students in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science, Department of Orthopaedics, and Division of Physical Therapy.  

The mission of the laboratory is to advance the field of Sports Medicine and Athletic Training through scientific inquiry that helps to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice.  Much of the research focuses on problems linked to the musculoskeletal, neurologic, and neuromuscular systems.

The laboratory is divided into three main areas: The Human Movement Analysis Room is equipped with a Vicon Nexus motion analysis system, Motion Monitor (Flock of Birds) motion analysis system, Biodex Stability System, 4 Bertec forceplates, Konigsberg 16-channel telemetry EMG system, Marquette Treadmill, Biodex System 3-Pro isokinetic dynamometer, KinCom isokinetic dynamometer, Chatillion hand-held dynamometer, Biometrics electric goniometer, KT-1000 knee arthrometer, stiffness loading device, ankle perturbation platform, and the Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System.

The Balance Assessment Room and Neuropsychological Assessment Room are separated from the functional assessment area to provide for a quieter testing environment. These rooms are equipped with the NeuroCom Smart Balance Master, used for sensory organization testing, and four computers for conducting computerized neurocognitive assessments. To ensure patient privacy, our BodPod is also located in this area.

The Laboratory Office serves as a work/study area for ten doctoral students and six faculty members.  This room serves as the administrative headquarters for all research projects being conducted in the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory.  It serves as a data entry base and is well equipped with reference material for undergraduate and graduate students.

Over the past several years, the laboratory has operated on support from both internal and external funding.  Most recently, research grants have been secured in the following areas: sport-related concussion, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, functional ankle instability, balance in the elderly, osteoarthritis and Alzheimer’s disease in retired football players, and muscle stiffness.  Funding agencies have included The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE), American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), National Athletic Trainers’ Association – Research and Education Foundation (NATA-REF), National Football Player’s Association (NFLPA), Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF), and UNC-CH Injury Prevention Research Center.

 

Outlined below is a listing of available laboratory equipment and several projects that have been conducted in the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory over the past five years.  For additional information, please see our website at www.unc.edu/sportmedlab or contact Kevin M. Guskiewicz, PhD, ATC at 919-962-5175 or gus@email.unc.edu.