Mount Sinai Named Official Medical Service Provider for International Sumo League
Physicians from the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance will play a key role in preparing athletes for tournaments
For the first time, the Mount Sinai Health System has been named the official medical service provider for the International Sumo League—the world’s largest league of sumo wrestlers. Physicians from the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance are playing a key role in preparing the elite sumo wrestlers competing in international tournaments, including the upcoming World Championship Sumo at the Prudential Center in New Jersey on Sunday, February 18.
“We are excited to partner with International Sumo League and offer comprehensive care and expert guidance to these incredible athletes, and we can’t wait to watch everyone’s hard work pay off at the 2024 World Championship Sumo,” says Joseph Herrera, DO, the Lucy G. Moses Professor and Chair of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Our talented staff will be providing onsite medical care at events for these competitors while also providing guidance to improve overall human performance.”
Under the partnership with International Sumo League, Mount Sinai Physicians will be ringside during these events, evaluating and treating a wide range of athlete injuries. The Mount Sinai team will also focus on working with the athletes on injury prevention and optimizing their human performance outside of the wrestling ring. Sumo wrestlers will participate in Mount Sinai’s specialized “Performance360” program, which customizes strategies to enhance and improve strength and conditioning, nutrition, and mental health, and address possible medical issues. Mount Sinai will also launch new research on sumo wrestlers—a group of athletes with high levels of muscle and body mass—that are understudied and a new area of medicine. The work will focus on the physiology of a sumo wrestler, along with what injuries they are prone to, and injury prevention.
“We are so excited to be helping these world-class athletes—their training, fueling, and build is so unique, and we can’t wait to optimize their health and human performance. This partnership highlights our skill and expertise and dedication to this sport,” says Mariam Zakhary, DO, Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at Icahn Mount Sinai and program director for the sports medicine fellowship. “We not only see the importance of providing the best care for these athletes, but are looking into research to further the sport through data collection and analysis.”
The International Sumo League’s partnership with Mount Sinai runs through December 2024. Physicians from Mount Sinai’s Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance have also partnered with USA Fencing as its official medical services provider.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.
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Sep 28, 2023 View All Press Releases