Sports Medicine

What are the benefits of sports medicine?

• Diagnosing and treating uncomfortable conditions resulting in improved athletic performance.
• Improved confidence and self-assurance
• Relief from discomfort, chronic aching, soreness, irritation, or pain interfering with personal and professional life.
• Improved joints mobility
• Better social and psychological health
• Prevention of further sports injuries or unwanted complications of sports or exercise
• Customized care according to the needs and preferences of the patient
• Improved physical fitness.

Sports medicine therapies are very safe, but their risks can include:

• Allergic reaction to treatment materials like medications, bandages, or local sprays.
• Relapse of the condition on returning to the normal sports or fitness routine.
• Some patients don’t get satisfactory results after the treatment.
• Common side effects of burns, loss of sensation, or temporarily heightened discomfort due to physical therapy or medications
• Surgical complications of infection, swelling and bleeding in cases of orthopaedic surgery

Recovery time depends on the following factors:

• Severity and location of injury: The recovery time for minor injury or injury of the body part involved in minimum movements is less in comparison to major injury or moving parts of the body.
• Surgical treatment takes more recovery time
• Age, health and medical condition of the patient
• Physical therapy results

Common symptoms of sports injury include:

• Joint swelling, pain and immobility.
• Visible deformity or abnormal mass in arms, legs, or joints.
• Inability to fully move a joint
• Inability to stand or walk.
• Back or neck pain-especially if there is also numbness, weakness or pain
• Dizziness or loss of consciousness after head trauma during sports

Yes, frozen shoulder is a treatable condition of the shoulder joint and its treatment involves management of pain and restoring the full range of motions of the shoulder joint. It can be treated by:

• Medications like NSAIDs and steroids.
• Physical therapy to recover the mobility of the shoulder joint.
• Steroid injections to decrease pain and improve shoulder mobility.
• Joint distension by injecting sterile water into the capsule of the shoulder joint to stretch the tissue and improve mobility.
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) uses electric current to stimulate the release of pain inhibiting molecules called endorphins or block pain impulses
• Shoulder manipulation is performed under general anaesthesia and the shoulder joint is moved in all directions by the surgeon to lose the tightened tissue.
• Surgery for frozen shoulder is performed rarely and advised in cases of frozen shoulder showing no improvement by therapy or medications. It is also called arthroscopic surgery.

• Yes, ACL reconstruction surgery of the damaged knee ligament is a safe procedure. In this procedure, the damaged ligament is removed and replaced by a tendon graft which provides support for the new growth of the ligament.
• Proper rehabilitation therapy also helps in normal healing and restoring the normal movements of the knee joint.
• Some rare side-effects of ACL reconstruction are:
  • Infection, bleeding and swelling of the surgical site
  • Damage to the adjacent structure
  • Failure of the graft
  • Restricted movement of knees