What is a sports injury?
Sports injuries can occur when you’re working out, playing sports, or engaged in some other kind of exercise. Generally, sports injuries affect the musculoskeletal system, which includes your bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Some common orthopedic sports injuries include:
- Sprain - ligament damage
- Strain - tendon or muscle damage
- Tendinitis - inflammation of the Achilles or other tendon
- Patellofemoral syndrome - kneecap problem
- Joint dislocations
Sports injuries may be serious, even if they don’t seem too bad initially. If you keep exercising, you could easily make it worse or even create a long-term problem. If you’re injured, stop what you’re doing and contact Michael V. Elman M.D.. for help.
What causes sports injuries?
Sports injuries can happen because of simple bad luck, like running into another player. But in many cases sports injuries happen because of inadequate warm up, improper conditioning, overexertion, poor technique, or wearing the wrong kind of protective equipment.
How do you diagnose a sports injury?
A physical exam, medical history review, and discussion about injury circumstances and symptoms are the first steps. Dr. Elman often uses ultrasound, X-ray, or other types of imaging tests to confirm your specific diagnosis.
What is the best way to heal a sports injury?
Dr. Elman offers both conservative non-surgical care and operative treatment, based on your sports injury and needs.
Conservative care often includes physical therapy, rest, short-term medication, and possibly injections of corticosteroids or other treatments using ultrasound guidance.
In some cases, the only safe and reliable way to repair the damage is through surgery. Dr. Elman is an orthopedic surgeon who regularly uses both minimally invasive and open surgery approaches to treat serious tissue damage related to sports injuries.
Whether you have surgical or non-surgical treatment, sports injury recovery depends upon what you do during and after your treatment. Dr. Elman gives you specific guidance about activity levels and often recommends physical therapy for rehabilitation. Don’t risk another injury by trying to exercise too soon.
If you have experienced an orthopedic sports injury call Michael V. Elman M.D. or request an appointment online.
