I saw the article- it was a good read
One of his current sports medicine fellows is a former chief resident at Emory, and a very well regarded physiatrist. From speaking with him, he is very happy with his experience there.
There ASMI is pretty unique. For example, they didn't mention Glen Fleisig, who is the PhD who runs a lot of their biomechanical studies. Part of what makes the set-up their special is how it is more than just an orthopedic spine center- they have integrated the research and the rehabilitation into their institute.
There are certainly other comprehensive sports medicine centers where physiatry has a major impact. Many of these have been mentioned elsewhere on these threads, but some places that come to mind are Stanford (with Mike Fredericson), Mayo Clinic-Rochester (Jay Smith, Ed Laskowski, Karen Newcomer), RIC (Joel Press et al), Colorado (Venu Akuthota, etc), the Rehabilitation Institute of Morristown Memorial in NJ (with Greg Mulford, Gerry Malanga, et al), etc. There a bunch.
I think it is reasonable to say that ASMI in Birmingham is the best at what they do in their particular model, but there are other really good models that also are excellent. For example, the University of Pittsburgh has the most impressive sports medicine complex I have seen. It is run by Freddie Fu, who is an orthopedic surgeon, but they are certainly friendly to PM+R.
