Leasiders love their sports. At the corner of Millwood and McRae, weather permitting, you’re likely to see tennis on the courts, baseball at Trace Manes Park diamond, pickleball in the church basement, and just a few short blocks east, at the arena, year-round hockey. It seems that sports, athletes and wannabe athletes, and fans are everywhere in Leaside.
With sports come friendship and fun but also occasionally injuries whether the player is a tiny tot novice, professional athlete or senior looking to stay healthy and fit. Luckily for Leasiders, your sports injury has a new medical team in town, who opened their clinic at 45 Wicksteed Ave. #240, on September 5th.
Dr. Julia Hamilton, introducing herself and her friend and professional colleague, physiotherapist Shannon Andersen, reminisced, “We met when working at the same medical clinic in 2010 and just clicked – both being high energy dedicated professionals. We appreciated each others’ credentials, experience, client results and worked great together.”
Shannon added, “We both go the extra mile to find the root cause of a client’s injury, so they get better faster and avoid re-injury.”
Just a year ago the partners decided to bring their practices together, assemble a team of professionals and launch The Sports Health Experts clinic in Leaside. “We’re a new clinic but not new to sport medicine. The minimum experience on our team is 15 years,” said Julia.
Shannon added, “Our decision to work together was confirmed as we encountered and addressed a multitude of challenges every week from space requirements, architectural drawings, lawyers, insurance, financing, staffing, equipment and supplies, plus social and web design. We now have a healthy respect for how detailed opening a business can be. Amazingly, we easily divided up tasks, trusted each other to deliver and when asked, often came up with the same solution to a pressing issue.”
Both Julia and Shannon are accomplished medical professionals dedicated to athletics. Dr. Julia Hamilton is in the University of Toronto’s Sports Hall of Fame for varsity squash. She is an MD, CCFP (SEM), a sports med lecturer in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, the National Ballet of Canada’s company physician, and team physician with Canadian Beach Volleyball.
Shannon is a graduate of McMaster Physiotherapy with her Master of Science from Lakehead University. In the past, she’s traveled with Stars on Ice in Canada and the States, been assistant physiotherapist for the Canadian Men’s Davis Cup Tennis Team and currently works as a consultant to Tennis Canada.
Why Leaside, you might wonder? Simple, said Shannon. “We’ve both worked and have clients in the community. I grew up in Leaside and played Wildcat hockey and we’re both moms with kids currently in Leaside athletics.”
Keep an eye on their website (https://sportshealthexperts.com). When time permits, the pair are planning to host an open house to acquaint Leasiders with their team, office space, and well-equipped physical therapy area.
