Are you overweight? Do you have heart problems? Cancer? Pakinson’s Disease? Diabetes? Hyperlipidemia? Hypertension? Fibromyalgia? Osteoarthritis? Respiratory disease? Orthopedic problems? A chronic illness?
Shaare Zedek’s Heidi Rothberg Sports Medicine Center in the Jerusalem Pais Arena near Teddy Stadium directed by Prof. Naama Constantini is the first of its kind. The professional staff can assess each individual and tailor specially designed sports programs using equipment from the prestigious Technogym company in Italy. The Heidi Rothberg Sports Medicine Center is Israel’s only sports medicine center under the aegis of a medical center that is located outside of a hospital so that customer/patients don’t feel that they are ill.
At the opening ceremony, our Director General, Professor Jonathan Halevy, said, “This is our first out-of-hospital project for preventive medicine – for primary prevention of healthy people, testing amateur and professional sportsmen, helping at-risk people and also secondary prevention for patients with a wide variety of conditions who need rehabilitation.”
Professor Constantini shared, “There are plenty of gyms in Jerusalem we don’t compete with them. Ours is a medical facility, with experts who understand medicine and bodily processes, analyze the muscular strength, aerobic capacity, body composition, flexibility and other aspects of the body and provide counseling. We have physicians, sport nutritionists, physiotherapists, physiologists and other experts…We tried each device before choosing equipment for the center. We went for the highest quality…There are state-of-the-art, “smart” elliptical machines, treadmills, cycle ergometers (legs and hands), rowing machines, weights, devices for functional training, many types that have not been seen before in the capital…The high-end equipment for aerobic strength and functional training is considered among the best in the world.” The devices are outfitted with small screens for Internet surfing, listening to music or lectures and watching TV or videos as well as a personal program for following one’s exercise progress.
Prof. Constantini cited Hippocrates, saying that adopting a healthful diet is not enough to make you healthy if you don’t exercise, “Some people claim that if you’re thin, you don’t have to exercise. But there are overweight people who are nevertheless healthy and thin ones who are not. You have to exercise on a regular basis. Exercise is not for losing weight. It is to enjoy a high quality of life and to function better. You have to get your heart pounding, your lungs working and your muscles moving if you want to have a long life.”
The generosity of Ms. Heidi Rothberg made this wonderful sports center possible. Heidi has been a devoted supporter of Shaare Zedek for years. She is the daughter of the late Sam Rothberg, a key architect of the American Jewish community’s relationship with Israel, a philanthropist and a business leader from Peoria, Illinois who passed away in 2007 at the age of 97. Sam encouraged United States President Harry S Truman to recognize Israel immediately after its independence was declared in 1948.
At the opening ceremony Heidi shared, “I’m proud to be connected to Shaare Zedek for so many years. My dad used to say: ‘Don’t give to institutions; give to people. Thanks to the new center, people will learn to take care of themselves, so the center will save many lives,” she said.
The center provides consulting services to Hapoel Jerusalem, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Ashdod, Hapoel Beersheba, the Basketball Association and the Swimming Association and its various teams.
For more information or to schedule an appointment please call: 02-5325590
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