Pain-Free Playtime: Orthopedic Solutions For Common Sports Injuries

How Prevalent Are Sports Injuries?

Over 3.6 million people annually are treated in emergency departments for sports and recreational equipment injuries. The risk for injury increases when overtraining, using incorrect equipment, playing on uneven surfaces, using improper technique, or poorly warming up all can cause injury. Types of injuries depend on activity, age, and level of fitness. Injuries commonly fall into the musculoskeletal category involving a muscle, soft tissue, or bone. Examples include broken bones or fractures, joint sprains, and muscle strains. Dislocations of the joint where the bones that create the joint separate can also occur with high-impact sports, as well as tears to essential structures such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the knee or rotator cuff of the shoulder. In the acute injury phase, symptoms include sudden pain, swelling, bruising, weakness, and inability to move the affected area.

Common treatments for sports injuries

Treatment approaches depend on the type of injury and fall into surgical and non-surgical interventions. Surgical interventions often accompany a broken bone that is angulated or displaced and unstable. Non-surgical interventions can consist of various modalities depending on the region affected Minor injuries can often be treated at home by resting, icing, compressing, and elevating (RICE) the injured region. Healing can be promoted by resting for 1-2 days, ice application with a cold pack several times a day for 20 minutes, maintaining compression, and elevating the area above the level of the heart to reduce swelling. Other injuries that occur for longer durations or affect range of motion may need additional therapeutic interventions.

Incorporating platelets to heal

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has widely been used to promote healing in injured tendons, ligaments, muscles, and joints. This is a biologic therapy that enhances repair by utilizing a patient’s own blood platelets to invoke a healing response with a mixture of platelets, growth factors, and cytokines that produce an anti-inflammatory response. The procedure can be performed in a doctor’s office where, under ultrasound guidance, the therapy is injected directly into the injured site to enhance and promote recovery. Minimal side effects, including pain and discomfort at the injection site.

Triggering self-healing properties in your body

Prolotherapy is another injection-type therapy that employs injecting a dextrose-derived irritant solution into the affected area under ultrasound guidance. This treatment is thought to accelerate natural healing properties in soft tissues, including muscles, tendons, and ligaments. The body senses a threat from the injected substance and reacts with a cascade of immune responses to repair and heal the affected area. This low-risk treatment can be combined with other therapies and has minimal side effects of pain and discomfort at the injection site.

Minimally invasive surgical methods of repair

Advancements in medicine have generated minimally invasive orthopedic procedures for many common sports injuries, such as ACL and rotator cuff injuries. Arthroscopy involves making small incisions and utilizing specialized cameras to make more precise tendon and ligament repairs. This approach permits faster healing times, less pain and discomfort, and a quicker return to physical activities and sports. It’s important to consult a healthcare professional to determine if minimally invasive surgery is the right option for a specific injury.

Regaining your competitive edge while staying pain-free

The field of orthopedics has grown exponentially in offering adjuvant therapies and interventions to enhance and accelerate recovery in the event of a sports-related injury. Harnessing the healing properties and mechanisms through PRP or prolotherapy enables tissue repair at the cellular level. Other orthopedic solutions include innovative, minimally invasive procedures with reduced complication rates and healing times. Incorporating any combination of these therapies can optimize an athlete’s healing journey, minimize downtime, and maintain peak performance.