Sports Medicine

What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine practitioners specialize in treating injuries caused by playing sports. Sports injuries can also be a problem during training and exercise, but they don’t just affect athletes. Other physical activities like dancing or hiking could lead to a sports injury, and they can happen at any age.

The sports medicine experts at Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care treat many different injuries, including:

• Torn muscles
• Strained tendons
• Sprained ligaments
• Stress fractures
• Dislocated joints
• Cartilage damage
• Rotator cuff tears
• Back and neck injuries

Sports injuries can be acute, causing instant pain and weakness when a structure like a tendon, ligament, cartilage, or joint suddenly gives way. Sports injuries can also result from overuse or repetitive strain, which causes multiple micro-injuries to develop over months or years.

Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care also offers routine sports physicals. These are physical exams and assessments that determine if you’re fit enough to play sports.

What conditions does sports medicine treat?

Some common sports injuries include:

• Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis)
• Golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis)
• Achilles tendonitis
• Meniscus tears in the knees
• Ankle sprains
• Shin splints
• Patellofemoral pain syndrome
• Plantar fasciitis
• Thrower’s shoulder
• Labral tears in the hip and shoulder

Sprains of knee ligaments — anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), lateral collateral ligament (LCL), and medial collateral ligament (MCL) — are also common sports injuries.

When you first incur an injury, avoid using the affected area and try to keep it raised above heart height. Wrapping a bandage around the injury and applying ice can reduce swelling too. This sports injury first aid protocol is known as RICE — rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

What treatments are used in sports medicine?

Your sports medicine provider at Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care first assesses your injury to see what’s damaged and how badly. They then prepare a suitable treatment plan for you that could contain therapies such as:

• Rest and activity modification
• Heat and ice
• Splinting or bracing
• Wearing a sling
• Compression taping
• Manual therapy
• Electrical stimulation 
• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Steroid injections

With the help of Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care, you can heal faster and better, getting back in action on the sports field or at the gym without unnecessary delay.

To benefit from prompt and effective sports medicine treatment or arrange a sports physical, call Integrative Family Medicine and Urgent Care or book an appointment online today.