AUBURN – Elizabeth Dixon nearly made it through an entire season enduring nothing more than the normal lumps a body takes in junior varsity soccer.

Then another player stepped on her foot, and Dixon twisted her ankle in a game at Oxford Hills High School.

“I couldn’t walk on it, so I got taken off the field,” Dixon said.

The trainer at Oxford Hills told Dixon, a sophomore at Lewiston High School, to see her school’s trainer, Mary Britt, the next day. Britt recommended Dixon pay a visit to a Saturday morning clinic her employer, Select Physical Therapy, is running in conjunction with Central Maine Orthopaedics in Auburn.

After getting a referral from her family physician, Dixon walked, somewhat gingerly, into Central Maine Orthopaedics offices on Minot Ave. last Saturday

“That’s why I’m here. I want to see if I can possibly play in my last game on Tuesday,” she said.

Five other athletes walked in with different ailments Saturday, hoping to find out if and when they could get back on the field. Each of them got x-rays, if they needed them, and an evaluation for Dr. Paul Cain, an orthopaedic surgeon.

“We’ll see them,” said Katie Holmes, an athletic trainer and sports medicine coordinator for Select Physical Therapy, “and then follow up with them on Monday – whether they need physical therapy, whether they can follow up with their trainer at the school or whether they need an MRI or something else to further diagnose them, especially if they’re surgical candidates.”

If an athlete does need surgery, they can get on a fast track to getting that done. It may not get them back in time for the end of their fall season, but it may make the difference between whether they’re ready for the start of their winter sport season or not.

The clinic started up this fall and has seen athletes ranging from middle school to college. The Lewiston Maineiacs have sent players and even a few weekend warriors have dropped by.

Most of the referrals have come from athletic trainers from Select Physical Therapy, who are contracted by local schools. On Saturday, atheletes from Lewiston, Edward Little, Mountain Valley and a private school checked in.

The clinic will continue into the winter sports season, but it will be moving to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday either in the first or second week of November. No appointment is necessary, although patients are asked to call ahead.

“It’s something that is being done in larger cities around the rest of the country, and we thought that based on the athletic population here, that this might be a great thing to bring into the community,” Holmes said.

“It’s not just for athletes. It’s for almost anybody,” she added. “It allows the community a quick point of entry. It’s beneficial for athletes so that they don’t have to miss a lot of game time waiting on doctor’s appointments and rest and things like that.”

It’s also beneficial to busy parents.

“What’s nice about coming down here is I don’t have to sit in an emergency room and wait,” said Rachel Dixon, Elizabeth’s mom, who had already brought Elizabeth’s younger sister, Emily, to the clinic earlier in the season. “It only took us, maybe, 10 minutes to get in. And the x-rays were maybe two minutes. It’s better than going to one of the hospitals and it turning into an all-day thing, or at least a half a day.”

The Dixons left the clinic with good news. Elizabeth’s sprain was mild and shouldn’t keep her out of her last game.