'We Really Focus On Kids': Philadelphia's Vincera Institute Helping Children Succeed Through Sports With Celebrity Golf Outing
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A celebrity golf outing and a Philadelphia-based institute and foundation behind the event are helping kids succeed through sports. The golfers teed up Monday, even in the bad weather.
The Vincera Institute and Foundation is based in South Philly. It's dedicated to core health and we're not just talking about having six-pack abs. It's a big part of sports medicine.
Professional golfer Sean O'Hair is still recovering from surgery on the oblique muscle in his abdomen that he tore at Pebble Beach.
"The first guy thought I had a broken rib. I've never heard of anybody on tour to have an oblique tear like that," O'Hair said.
His surgery and rehab has been coordinated at the Vincera Institute for Core Medicine at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
"The core is an ignored part of medicine," Dr. William Meyers said. "It's the largest source of injuries, not only in sports, but in life."
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Meyers started the Vincera Institute because there were so many questions about the core, which covers the region below the chest to above the knees -- areas including the back, that sustain a lot of injuries.
"I was pretty scared, first major injury as an athlete, didn't know if I was going to be able to play golf again," O'Hair said.
But he's back on the links with a new appreciation for his core.
"With golf, you have rotation, you have side tilt. When you have those things, and doing them as quickly and aggressively, if you have a major injury to your core, you're not going to be able to perform," O'Hair said.
O'Hair was part of the third annual Children's Classic at the Philadelphia Country Club to benefit the Vincera Foundation, which helps children.
"It's three things: It's research, education and inspiration to get kids to use sports to create life opportunities," Meyers said. "We really focus on kids developing the right way physically, and we have kids involved in the studies both as subjects and analysts."
For O'Hair, it's about helping kids, and his appreciation of the Vincera Institute that has him back playing golf.
"I feel good. Golf swing-wise I'm not quite there yet but I'm getting stronger each day," he said.
In addition to surgery and rehab, Vincera has a variety of education and research projects for patients and children who are helped by the foundation.
