Sports Medicine

What is a Sports Medicine?

Sports medicine is the medical specialty of improving athletic performance, recovering from injury and prevention of future injuries. Sports medicine professionals treat athletes, dancers, and those engaged in exercise of all ages and athletic ability, whether they are trying to reach peak athletic performance or regain full function after injury.

Prevention

There are several measures you can take to prevent sports-related injuries:

Follow an exercise program to strengthen the muscles.
Gradually increase your exercise level and avoid overdoing the exercise.
Ensure that you wear properly-fitted protective gear such as elbow guards, eye gear, facemasks, mouth guards and pads, comfortable clothes, and athletic shoes before playing any sports activity, which will help reduce the chances of injury.
Make sure that you follow warm-up and cool-down exercises before and after the sports activity. Exercises will help stretch muscles, increase flexibility and reduce soft tissue injuries.
Avoid exercising immediately after eating a large meal.
Maintain a healthy diet, which will nourish the muscles.
Avoid playing when you are injured or tired. Take a break for some time after playing.
Learn all the rules of the game you are participating in.
Ensure that you are physically fit to play the sport.

Injuries

Sports injuries can occur during any form of workout and physical exertion. Injuries can range from mild aches and pains to severe, even requiring surgery.

Overuse Children in the midst of their growth spurts can experience growing pains of the knee, foot or ankle (apophysitis), while the elderly can experience pains from degenerative joints and stiffer muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Professional athletes are subject to repetitive injuries, such as the shoulder and elbow of a baseball pitcher to the knee of an NBA basketball player. Injuries can range from bursitis and tendonitis to more severe stress fractures. Treatments are generally conservative but should be evaluated and treated by a multi-specialty team of your physician, therapists, and trainers.
Trauma Athletes can sustain low or high-energy injuries that range from twists and sprains to fractures or dislocations. Depending on the severity, treatments can range from conservative to surgical management.

Common Injuries

Shoulder Injuries

Pain in your shoulders while playing your favorite sport such as basketball or tennis, or while exercising in the pool or gym, may be caused by an inflamed or even torn rotator cuff tendon. Overhead athletes are prone to SLAP tears of the biceps and labral attachment, while weightlifters can develop pain at their acromioclavicular (AC) joint or biceps tendonitis or even a tear. Shoulder dislocations, AC joint separations, labrum tears, and even fractures of the clavicle, glenoid or humerus bones can happen in collision sports such as football or lacrosse. Most injuries can be treated with conservative management while others may require surgical treatment. Making the correct diagnosis will lead to the appropriate treatment and speed recovery time.

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Elbow

Elbow pain in the athlete varies largely from one sport to the next. Pitchers can sprain or tear the ulnar collateral ligament at the elbow and require extensive rehabilitation or possibly even surgery to reconstruct the ligament (“Tommy John” surgery). Exercise training sessions can cause repetitive injuries like epicondylitis (tennis or golfers elbow) or bony impingement. Dislocations or fractures of the elbow can happen with falls onto an outstretched arm. A faster recuperation time is largely dictated by making the appropriate diagnosis and treatment plan.

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Wrist/Hand

Both overuse and traumatic wrist and hand injuries are common. Contact sports such as football can lead to tackling injuries of the finger (Jersey finger) to collateral ligament sprains or fractures. Tendonitis and sprains are common in tennis and basketball. Simple pain or acute injuries may be treated with conservative treatment, while chronic injuries may require surgical treatment.

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Hip

The hip joint bears more weight and is more susceptible for injuries while playing sports. Hip injuries can range from repetitive over-use such as gluteus tendon and iliotibial band (ITB band) tendonitis, to fractures of the femur bone. Athletic pubalgia and sports hernias are often diagnosed in hockey and soccer players and must be properly diagnosed and treated. Labral tears of the hip may result from a traumatic dislocation in collision sports or from repetitive extremes of hip motion in ballet or martial arts. Some athletes who have congenital developmental dysplasia of the hip (shallow hip socket) or femoroacetabulum impingement (FAI) of the hip may have a higher chance of developing labrum tears and articular cartilage injuries. Long-distance athletes such as those participating in marathon and triathlon training, or those athletes who return to sport activity too fast from a period of inactivity, can develop stress fractures of the hip that require urgent treatment. Hip injuries require immediate medical intervention to avoid further complications. Rehabilitation programs and physical therapy is often recommended following medical intervention. In some cases, surgery may be required to return to the athlete to competition.

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Knee

The knee joint is highly susceptible to both repetitive and acute traumatic injuries. Iliotibial band (IT band) tendonitis and bursitis commonly afflicts the long distance runner, whereas basketball and volleyball players can develop patella or quacriceps tendonitis (Jumpers’ knee) from repetitive jumping activities. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is major stabilizing ligament in the knee, which may tear with twisting injuries while playing sports. The ACL has poor ability to heal and may cause instability. Women have a significantly higher risk of tearing their ACL than men in sports like basketball and volleyball. Other common sports injuries in the knee include articular cartilage damage and meniscal tears. Although many injuries can be treated with conservative management, certain knee injuries during sports may require surgical intervention, which can be performed using open surgical or a minimally invasive technique. Most injuries may be treated with conservative management, however, some may require surgery to return the athlete to sports. Your doctor can best help guide you in choosing the appropriate treatment strategy.

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Ankle & Foot

The ankle joint is highly susceptible to both repetitive and acute traumatic injuries. Overuse injuries such as Achilles tendonitis and impingement are common in the ankle, whereas stress fractures, turf toe, and sesamoiditis can afflict the foot. Collision sports can result in fractures of the ankle and toe and even the tibia and fibula higher up. Most injuries can be treated with conservative management while others may require surgical treatment. Making the correct diagnosis will lead to the appropriate treatment and speed recovery time. Your doctor can best help guide you in choosing the appropriate treatment strategy.

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Spine

Injuries of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine can happen with both repetitive and acute traumatic events. Making the correct diagnosis will lead to the appropriate treatment and speed recovery time. Your doctor can best help guide you in choosing the appropriate treatment strategy.

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School and College Pre-Screening for Athletic Participation

Pre-participation screening tests are extremely important for middle school, high school and college student athlete participation. Every year there are students who are picked up through athletic screenings events to have un-reported medical conditions, which could be dangerous for athletic participation, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy of the heart. Furthermore, pre-season concussion screening tests can help set a baseline for collision sport athletes to determine whether they have sustained an in-season traumatic brain concussion. Every year, Dr. Hommen performs pre-screening events at local high schools in Miami Dade.

Athletic Training and Physical Therapist Conferences

Dr. Hommen hosts regular conferences for Athletic Trainers and Physical Therapists. A thorough discussion of sports medicine topics of the shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, foot and ankle are discussed including: immediate emergency on-the-field treatment, diagnosis, therapeutic treatments and surgery.