The Mid-Maryland Musculoskeletal Institute (MMI) is the proud sponsor of the Seventh Annual MMI Kids Night at the
Frederick Keys on Thursday, June 21st at Harry Grove Stadium. This annual event was organized as a joint venture between the Frederick Keys organization and MMI to send a message to the children in our community that athletics are fun and rewarding, and as a way to encourage family oriented activities.

MMI distributed six hundred tickets for the Frederick Keys game against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, to the local Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers & Big Sisters and Frederick Community Action as well as local Pediatricians who will distribute them directly to interested families.

As specialists in muscle, bone and joint care, MMI has a variety of physicians with expertise in treating children. From
newborns with hip dysplasia, to elite high school athletes, our orthopaedic physicians have advanced training in pediatrics, sports medicine, foot & ankle, spine and hand.

Pediatric Orthopaedic Specialist, Laura Copaken, M.D. has extensive training and experience treating children from birth through their teen years. When asked about the impact of this annual event, Dr. Copaken shared her thoughts, “My colleagues and I feel it’s important to reach out to the community where we practice and provide opportunities for our youth. So often when you treat children you are seeing them when they are scared or in pain. I always find this event a refreshing change because it’s all about having fun and lets me interact with my patients and their families away from the office.”

Part of our role at MMI is to stress the importance of physical activity and help children understand the importance of
physical fitness. One way to do that is to make it fun. MMI also has a Pediatric Physical Therapy Facility headed by Monica Johnson, D.P.T, where children are treated for a variety of issues from sports injuries and fractures to congenital and developmental conditions. Dr. Johnson indicated that, ”MMI’s Kid’s Only Facility is unique in this region. We make therapy fun and interactive in a playful setting, helping children recover from injury or gain the skills needed to play and learn. Many of our patients are with us over a long period of time, so we really get to know these kids and their parents. Sharing an event like this with them is always a pleasure and reinforces our general message of physical activity, on some level, can be enjoyed by everyone.”

The doctors at Mid-Maryland Musculoskeletal Institute also serve as team physicians for several of the local high school varsity football teams, providing sideline coverage during home games. Dr. Mark Chilton expressed the group’s community service orientation well by saying, “Patrolling the sidelines during football games gives us an opportunity to help keep the student athletes safe and healthy. Being close to the action allows us to make prompt medical decisions which are sometimes critical in giving the athlete and the coach the best medical advice.”