Sports are a healthy, fun pastime and captivating form of entertainment, helping people to greater fitness. Also, helps people come together in pursuit of a common goal. But often require rigorous training, intense exercise, heightened flexibility, bodily strain, athletic activities carry the risk for injury and hence the need for orthopedic sports medicine.
Orthopedic sports medicine help patients maintain their health and treat athletic injuries so that they can keep playing. Orthopedists, doctors who diagnose and attend musculoskeletal conditions, often concentrate on sports medicine since athletes typically harm their muscles, ligaments, tendons, or related matters. Orthopedic sports medicine also inculcates elements of preventive medicine and nutritional science, helping patients preserve their fitness and wellbeing to perform well on the field or court.
Some sports-related injuries requiring orthopedic sports medicine intervention are:-
1. Hamstring pull:- Extreme jumping or running can overextend the tissues along the back of your thigh.
2. Achilles tendonitis:- The “Achilles” muscles adjoining your calf with your heel can become swollen and uncomfortable, most often in runners.
3. Ankle sprain:- Stretching or tearing your ankle ligaments can be harsh and weaken your mobility.
4. Shoulder injury:- The rotator cuff tendons of the shoulder are particularly prone to sports-related damage.
5. Quadriceps strain:- If the quadriceps muscles in the outer thigh become overworked, stretched, or torn, usually due to repeated squatting or lunging motions, they can interfere with your ability to walk and stand properly.
6. Hip bursitis:- The hip’s “bursa” are fluid-filled membranes that pad the joints. Biking, running, or standing for lengthy periods can prompt them to swell.
7. Epicondylitis:– Also called “tennis elbow” for the sport that most commonly causes it, this is a swollen external elbow joint.
8. Lower back pain: -Running, bending over, and twisting can put unwarranted pressure touching your lower back vertebrae, muscles, and ligaments, injuring them.
9. Torn ACL of the knee:- Overuse or rapid twists can damage or tear the ACL, limiting your leg movement.
10. Plantar fasciitis:- The tissue that spreads from your heel to your toes is called “fascia.” If it becomes torn or stretched, the bottom of your foot may endure knifelike pains and swelling.
11. Patellofemoral syndrome:- Repeated impact or strain can begin to dissolve or fragment the knee cap’s cartilage, making bending down very uncomfortable.
12. Groin pull:- Also, jumping, sprinting, and sudden movements can injure the muscles that connect your pelvis to your upper thighs, causing a groin pull.
Related: Knee Replacement Procedure
Pain management methods used in orthopedic sports medicine
1. Heat and cold:- Icing or applying a heating pad on your injuries may be adequate to endure pain from milder injuries.
2. Prescription medications:- are often the first course of pain management solutions. Anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce swelling and alleviate discomfort. For severe cases, sports medicine practitioners may suggest using morphine or corticosteroids to reduce pain and relax muscles.
3. Electrical stimulation:- also called TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), involves passing energy through the nerves near your sports injury. This restricts them from transmitting pain stimuli to your brain, providing momentary relief.
4. Spinal decompression:- a form of therapy in which your doctor uses a computerized, motorized instrument to massage and reduce pressure on your spinal discs.
5. Injected medications:- Sports medicine professionals can inject local anesthesia paired with Botox (which prevents your muscles from contracting), viscosupplementation, corticosteroids (compounds that can ease inflammation and irritation), or sclerosing fluids. These injections can temporarily diminish discomfort. They typically require repeated treatments to remain effective.
In orthopedic sports medicine, sports medicine practitioners recommend using a combination of pain management techniques. These medications may limit or delay the demand for orthopedic surgery and enable you to resume your regular activities unhindered. Sports medicine physicians & doctors shine in injury prevention, sports-related injury treatments & total rehabilitation.