What Injuries Do Sports Medicine And Rehabilitation Services Deal With?

What is Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation?

Sports medicine and rehabilitation programs treat injuries sustained while participating in sports, exercise, or other physical activities. This comprises athletes of all ages and skills and elderly folks who strive to maintain their physical fitness.

Sports medicine and rehabilitation services encompass a wide range of activities. Acute injuries such as fractures, sprains, and dislocations; chronic injuries such as arthritis, tendinitis, back pain; and functional deficits resulting from disease or disability-related impairment of motor skills are all examples.

Sports medicine professionals deal with soft tissue injuries such as strains, sprains, and tendonitis. In addition, orthopedics and sports medicine professionals frequently collaborate to diagnose and treat bone injuries such as fractures and dislocations. A physical therapist can help with lower-body damage, but neurologists better repair a head or spinal injury.

Services in sports medicine and rehabilitation can be delivered in various medical settings, including hospitals and outpatient clinics.

On the other hand, many sports medical experts work with athletes at their training facilities. These doctors and therapists usually accompany the team on their travels and may be present at training sessions, practices, and games.

Typical Injuries Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Deal With

Wrist Fracture

Wrist fractures are one of the most prevalent sports injuries. After fracturing their wrists, sports medicine and rehabilitation services advise their patients on dealing with pain, swelling, and stiffness.

They can also give patients instructions on strengthening the muscles around their fractured bones to avoid re-injury. Mild fractures can be treated with a cast, which must be worn for 4-6 weeks.

More severe fractures may require surgery and a cast, which necessitates a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon or another specialist who can provide the best treatment options.

Ankle Fracture

Ankle fractures are a common sports injury treated by sports medicine and rehabilitation services. To avoid re-injury, patients should follow the advice of their sports medical professionals.

A doctor might prescribe physical therapy, which could include ultrasound to stimulate tissue healing or other advanced rehab methods. Patients may also be prescribed ankle braces until they can fully recover.

Quadriceps Injuries

Quadriceps are a group of four muscles that go down the front of your leg. They’re the ones in charge of straightening your knee. Sports medicine and rehabilitation programs treat muscle strains, tendonitis, tears, and other disorders involving these muscles.

Patients are also given exercises to strengthen their muscles and avoid these injuries from occurring again in the future.

Rotator Cuff Strain

The rotator cuff is a collection of four muscles surrounding and protecting your shoulder joint. When people carry heavy objects, such as a refrigerator or other heavy furniture, they frequently injure these muscles.

Sports medicine and rehabilitation clinics educate their patients on avoiding injuries and treating them when they occur.

Knee Pain During Exercise

Knee pain during exercising could be caused by one of several problems. They could have patellofemoral syndrome caused by pressure on the kneecap or a muscular imbalance that renders the kneecap to pull.

Hip Pain During Exercise

A variety of factors can cause this sort of sports injury. If the discomfort originates in the hip joint, it could be osteoarthritis or bursitis (inflammation around the bursae). If it’s coming from the hip muscles, an imbalance could be putting too much pressure on one side of the joint and not enough on the other, creating pain.

Calf Strain

Calf strains are injuries caused by overuse or a strength imbalance between the calf muscles. Strains can range from minor to severe, depending on the severity of the damage.

Achilles Tendonitis

When someone overuses or sprains their Achilles tendon, they suffer from this sports ailment. People who inadvertently kick something while playing sports are more likely to get injured.

Knee Pain During Squatting

Iliotibial band syndrome is when people have knee pain during squatting. This ailment develops when pressure is applied to the IT band, a thick strip of connective tissue that extends from the hips to the knee.

Shoulder Injuries

Shoulder injuries are more common among people who work in jobs that require a lot of lifting.

Muscle Strains

Some sports medicine and rehabilitation specialists are also orthopedic specialists, treating sports injuries like muscular strains. When a muscle is stretched too far and tears, this injury occurs.

Ankle Sprains

Basketball, for example, has a sports medicine and rehabilitation department that specializes in sports that require sprinting or jumping. Because the ankles bear the whole weight of an athlete’s body when they land, sports injuries such as ankle sprains are common in these activities.

Most people who sprain their ankle will be able to return to work in 1-2 weeks, but some may need more time.

Tendonitis

Some sports medicine and rehabilitation specialists are also orthopedic specialists to treat sports ailments like tendonitis. These sports injuries happen when the tendons that connect muscles to bones become inflamed and irritated. Tendonitis is more prone to occur in those who overuse their joints.

Concussions

Concussions can occur due to collisions during athletic events such as football and hockey. As a result, neuropsychologists collaborate with coaches and athletes to prevent these injuries by increasing public knowledge of the dangers of playing while injured in the sports community.

The Top Beneficiaries of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation services are available to people with disabilities. These are usually done in a clinic, although the patient may also require adjusting to their disability. For example, if they cannot use one of their limbs, they may need assistance completing daily duties that would otherwise necessitate using both limbs.
Rehabilitation services can help people at risk of becoming injured. This could include seniors attempting to maintain their fitness through exercise or sports.
Sports medicine specialists can also help patients understand injury prevention strategies, such as protective equipment.
Even those who do not participate in sports may require rehabilitation assistance. Those recovering from orthopedic surgery, stroke sufferers, and those suffering from back discomfort or arthritis are among the most common.
Sports medicine practitioners can help people at risk of injury (e.g., the elderly) by expanding their understanding of injury prevention measures.

9 Benefits of Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation

Return to SportProgressions

Athletes can return to their sport as soon as they are ready with sports therapy. A sports medicine specialist will employ several tests and exams, depending on the severity of the injury, to ensure that players can return safely from any specific injury.

Injury Prevention

Athletes collaborate with sports medicine professionals to refine procedures needed for sports, which helps to avoid injuries before they happen. Working with professionals will help athletes improve their form and performance levels, making them less prone to damage in the long run.

Increase Strength

Sports rehabilitation aids an athlete’s recovery by increasing muscle strength following injuries to ligaments, tendons, and muscles.

Higher Performance Levels

Athletes can safely perform at their best by working with sports medicine and rehab specialists to ensure that they don’t overwork themselves and that their bodies have enough time to recuperate. For athletes that work closely with sports doctors and rehabilitation specialists, this also aids in the prevention of future injuries.

Increased Coordination and Balance

Athletes engage with sports medicine specialists to develop their coordination and balancing skills, allowing them to focus on the basic motions required for their sport. Athletes’ performance levels may improve over time as a result of this. When athletes return to their sports, rehabilitation helps to strengthen the muscles required for these activities, allowing them to be performed more securely.

Decrease Risk of Injury

Before returning to sports, sports medicine doctors work with athletes to improve their form and methods to reduce the chance of injury during the season. Sports rehabilitation minimizes the chance of injury by increasing muscle strength in the muscles required for basic motions.

Ergonomic Benefits

Athletes can improve their strength to endure the rigors of sports through sports medicine and rehabilitation, making it easier for them to perform actions with precision and accuracy each time they play their sport. Over time, this lowers the risk of injury.

Decrease Fatigue Levels

Athletes can work with sports medicine and rehabilitation specialists to reduce fatigue levels in their bodies over time by improving strength and coordination skills.