Sports medicine isn’t only for athletes, it’s also for those who have an injury that tends to be common among athletes. If you’ve sustained a musculoskeletal injury while carrying out your responsibilities in your job, while working on your favorite hobby, or while just doing things around the house, you can see a sports doctor for optimum treatment.
Whether you’ve pulled a muscle, sprained an ankle, or are developing an overuse injury that really should be addressed by a doctor, this type of physician can diagnose and treat you more quickly than a general family practitioner. Basically, anyone who enjoys an active lifestyle can benefit from a sports medicine specialist.
Sports medicine deals with injury prevention and fast recovery for people who exercise and play sports – from joggers to “weekend warriors,” and from amateur athletes to professional athletes. Let’s talk about how sports medicine doctors can be your go-to physician for injuries of all kinds.
What Is Sports Medicine?
Sports medicine specialists are physicians who specialize in orthopedics, particularly as it relates to traumatic or overuse injuries of the muscles, bones, and joints. Athletes can get sudden injuries, so the injury must be quickly assessed and treated so that the athlete can get back to playing the sport as quickly as possible.
Patients who play sports of all kinds – from tennis to golf – especially benefit from sports medicine specialists, who can help them recover and get back in the game. These specialists know the latest and most effective methods for injury treatment and rehabilitation, which just get better and better over time as do most areas of medicine.
What Sports Doctors Do
If you train or exercise, a sports medicine specialist can help you achieve optimal results from your training or exercise program while also preventing injuries. Even the fittest and most seasoned athletes are prone to injuries due to repetitive stress, trauma, and twisting motions.
Here are just some of the injuries that sports medicine doctors frequently treat:
- Sprains
- Strains
- Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear (in the knee)
- Rotator cuff injuries (in the shoulder)
- Pitcher’s elbow
- Tennis elbow
- Achilles tendon tear
- Bone fractures
- Dislocations
- Damaged cartilage (causing pain)
- Meniscal tears
- Arthritis
Some sports medicine specialists, such as orthopedic surgeons, can perform arthroscopic surgeries. This is a type of minimally invasive surgery that is used to diagnose and repair damaged tissues in an injured or painful joint. Arthroscopy requires minimal incisions, minimal scarring, and faster recovery time than traditional open surgery.
Comprehensive Sports Injury Care in San Antonio, Texas
If you’ve developed a joint injury or another type of musculoskeletal injury, our sports medicine specialists at the Center for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine can diagnose you accurately and help you recover as quickly as possible. We will create an individualized treatment plan for you, which will include helping you to avoid the injury from happening again.
To schedule an appointment with our sports medicine specialists, contact us today by calling us at (210) 692-7400 or request an appointment now via our online form. We look forward to seeing you here at our medical facility in San Antonio!
