Inspiring Conversations with Dr. Clarke Holmes of Impact Sports Medicine and Orthopedics

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Clarke Holmes. 

Hi Dr. Holmes, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
At age 15, I knew I wanted to be a physician. Medicine intrigued me. A close family friend was an orthopedic surgeon and served during those early years as a mentor to me. I was an athlete from a young age, concluding my competitive career as a high school baseball state champion. The blend of sports and medicine was very attractive to me, and by the time I was a third-year medical student, I knew that the field of sports medicine and orthopedics would be a great fit. Bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and the spine comprise the musculoskeletal system, and this is the system that always grabbed my attention, including from the teenage years until residency, when a decision had to be made about fellowship (subspecialty) training. A sports medicine fellowship 2001-2002 opened the doors for academic positions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (my alma mater) then Georgetown University in Washington, DC, where I served as the Director of Sports Medicine. The time at Georgetown was very rewarding, but quite demanding at the same time, leaving little time for family, and my young children at the time were starting to notice that “Daddy is gone all the time.” That prompted a career move to the private practice setting and a move to Nashville, TN. In 2009 the move to Nashville occurred, and by 2012, I was ready to open my own practice, hence the birth of Impact Sports Medicine and Orthopedics. Today, I am grateful to have an almost 10-year-old practice, taking care of orthopedic conditions and sports medicine issues in patients of all ages, treating “head to toe.” The most gratifying aspects of my practice are the relationships formed with my patients, getting to know them as individuals, not just body parts or conditions. I have somewhat of a “family orthopedic practice,” often treating mom, dad, children, and grandparents of the same family. Our goals are to assist in the healing of injuries, manage chronic conditions, improve functional levels, relieve pain and improve patients’ quality of life. We achieve these goals primarily through non-surgical, minimally-invasive, and educational tools, utilizing traditional and cutting-edge treatments. Our motto at Impact often spoken is “treat the person, not just the condition.” 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There are always going to be struggles, whether you are in the medical field or some other line of work. Sports medicine doesn’t necessarily lend itself to 9:00-5:00 work. If you choose especially to be a team physician, you are often spending some nights and weekends providing sideline coverage for those teams and being on-call for the athletic trainers serving those teams. The biggest challenge for me is drawing healthy boundaries between my career and my personal/family life. It’s a privilege to care for others, yet medicine can be all-consuming if you let it be that way. After nearly 25 years as a physician, I’ve come to learn how to best care for my patients and nurture my practice, while allowing myself personal freedoms outside of the scope of medicine. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My practice is patient-centered. I want you to know that we care about you as a person. In order to demonstrate this, we allow ourselves plenty of time for each patient visit, rarely double-book appointments, educate our patients thoroughly on their condition, and work as a team with the patient to create a customized diagnostic and treatment plan. We are best known for our non-surgical approach to orthopedic conditions, often utilizing minimally-invasive procedures such as injections to help you manage or overcome various conditions. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a non-invasive, inexpensive but very effective tool to help us diagnose certain conditions, and every injection we give is under the guidance of ultrasound, allowing these to be less painful, lower risk, and more accurate. We have expertise in orthobiologic injections, especially platelet-rich plasma, often used to effectively treat chronic tendon problems like tennis elbow and osteoarthritis of various joints. Whereas some practices don’t use ultrasound or PRP injections or just recently added these, we have had extensive experience with these for over 10 years. We often say “every patient can be an athlete,” and particularly enjoy caring for competitive high school athletes, dancers, ice skaters as well runners and triathletes. In addition, the recreational walker, tennis player, golfer, gym rat, and cross-fitter comprise a healthy amount of our practice. Caring for concussions in high school athletes is another area of expertise. Finally, in addition to Dr. Holmes, his clinical team is comprised of a nurse practitioner, Taylor Moore, and a certified athletic trainer, Erica Jarrett. Our tag line is: Expertise. Innovation. Compassion 

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It’s honestly hard to recollect just one memory. As a former athlete and like many others, competing in a sport involved the shedding of blood, sweat, and tears. The combination of winning a state championship in high school baseball while garnering some individual honors likely comprise my favorite childhood memory. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.impactsportsnashville.com
• Instagram: @impactsportsmedicine
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/impactsportsnashville