الصدمات الرياضية

What is sports medicine?        

Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of sports-related injuries.  

Sports injuries can happen suddenly, due to overtraining, not training properly, poor technique, wearing inappropriate clothing, and a lack of fitness, among other causes. 

The treatments used allow the person to go back to their normal training routine as soon as possible and in the best conditions.

What’s the difference between traditional orthopaedics and sports traumatology?

Sports traumatology focuses on athletes specifically and injuries arising in sport, considering the athlete's needs, whereas traditional traumatology treats general locomotive system injuries.     

This kind of specialist has in depth knowledge of different types of sports and understands the different situations that the athlete may have. They not only have physical, medical, physiological knowledge of the human body, but they are also able to treat different sports injuries (due to training, seasonal changes, competition expectations, among others), as well as other reasons for injuries. 

The most common injuries in sports medicine 

The most common injuries are:

• Sprained ankle.
• Muscle tears.
• Tendonitis and tendinopathies (tennis elbow, golfers elbow, Achilles tendon rupture).
• Knee injuries (meniscus fracture or damage to the anterior cruciate or posterior cruciate ligament) and cartilage injuries.
• Shoulder injuries (dislocation and tendinopathy), among others.

Sports medicine treatments  

The right treatment in sports medicine will always be based on each player’s medical history, which should include family and personal history, injury history, surgical history, and orthopaedic issues.    

The information gathered in a sports admission exam will be included, this will assess postural information, the skeletal muscle, joints, ligaments, and physical fitness, risk factors will also be included for any potential injuries according to the sport.   

Some of the treatments within this speciality include:   

Ultrasound-guided galvanic electrolysis technique, commonly known as USGET, is an innovative medical and physiotherapy technique that enables accurate treatment of injured tendons, muscles, or ligaments, successfully treating sports injuries such as:   

• Achilles tendonitis
• Patellar tendonitis
• Pubalgia
• Epicondylitis (tennis and golfers elbow)
• Rotator cuff tendonitis (supraspinatus)
• Plantar fasciitis
• Trochanteritis
• Iliotibial band syndrome
• Muscle tears (hamstrings, femoral biceps, calf, and soleus among others)

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a highly effective treatment to stimulate scarring, regeneration, and healing damaged tissues, such as:

• Tendon ruptures
• Chronic tendinopathies
• Ligament injuries
• Muscle injuries
• Focal cartilage injury
• Osteoarthritis  

Hyaluronic acid: Hyaluronic acid injections can reduce pain and revive joint function thanks to the treatment’s lubricant, mechanical, and biochemical effect. The most common areas to treat are:

• Knees (joint that most often receives this treatment)
• Ankles
• Hips
• Shoulders
• Hands