What is sports medicine?
Sports medicine involves the medical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of all injuries suffered during all kinds of sports.
Sports medicine involves the medical assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of all injuries suffered during all kinds of sports. Common examples of sports injuries include:
- Falls
- Running into another person
- Landing awkwardly after a jump
- Receiving a blow to the head
Some sports injuries are the result of wear-and-tear or repetitive minor trauma over a long period.
The most common sports injuries happen while using exercise equipment. Many others happen when playing sports like basketball, football, and cycling. Injuries suffered while riding in recreational vehicles are pretty common as well.
Sports medicine at Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons includes thorough care from the time of your injury to your return to your sport.
What are the most common injuries that sports medicine treats?
The sports medicine team at Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons can treat any sports injury. Among the most common are:
- Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears
- Meniscus tears
- Rotator cuff injuries
- Shoulder instability
- Tendinitis
- Dislocated kneecap and other dislocations
- Sprains
- Strains
- Vertebral compression fractures and other fractures
- Hand and upper extremities injuries
- Trigger finger
Some problems, like Dupuytren’s contracture, don’t necessarily start with a sports injury. But some sports can speed up the onset of symptoms or make them worse.
For example, studies show that more than half of male hockey players over 60 develop Dupuytren’s contracture. This condition causes the fingers (usually the third and fourth) to bend inward toward the palm.
What are the symptoms of a sports injury?
Pain is the most common symptom, with many injuries also causing swelling, bruising, weakness, stiffness, and difficulty bearing weight. These symptoms can get significantly worse if you don’t get treatment.
What are the most common sports medicine treatments?
The Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons team diagnoses your sports injury using physical exams, symptom assessment, and imaging procedures. They then develop an individual treatment plan, focusing on nonoperative treatments to start.
Your nonoperative care can include physical therapy, bracing, steroid injections, and regenerative medicine (stem cell and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections).
If you suffered a severe sports injury that doesn’t improve with nonoperative treatments, the team would recommend minimally invasive surgery.
The Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Surgeons. LLP shares your goal of returning to sports and other regular activities as soon as you can, and with their expertise, they’re here to help you safely do that. Book an appointment today online or by phone.
