Sports Medicine
What is Sports Medicine?
Sports Medicine is the branch of medicine that focuses on the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of injuries of the musculoskeletal system and related to sports and exercise.
- Also known as sports and exercise medicine or non-operative orthopedics.
- Focuses on helping people improve their athletic performance, recover from injury and prevent future injuries
- Sports medicine providers help all kinds of people, not just athletes
Sports medicine physicians
- have specialized training in both the treatment and prevention of illness and injury related to sports and the musculoskeletal system
They are ideally suited to provide medical care for:
- Athletes
- Sports teams
- Active individuals who are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle
- Individuals who would like to become active
- People who have injuries of their bones, joints, or muscles
Philosophy:
- My personal philosophy about most chronic musculoskeletal injuries is that they are due to some kind of biomechanical fault
- In other words, something you are doing on a daily basis is causing an imbalance that leads to pain and dysfunction
- An example is chronic low back pain; weak and unconditioned core muscles leads to constant overuse of back muscles which causes them to be more susceptible to injury, strain, or spasm
- Pain can be treated temporarily with the injections and medications I provide and I believe that the long term treatment and cure is treating the underlying cause; usually through strengthening, stretching, and correcting any imbalances that exist
- I recommend physical therapy as the mainstay of treatment for most chronic musckuloskeletal issues, even those going to surgery, as rehabilitation before and after surgery has been shown to improve outcomes significantly.
- PT’s who do one on one physical therapy with the same physical therapist, no aides, that is more active in nature with strengthening and stabilization focused on biomechanical faults is recommended and more effective
- I am of course biased, as I am married to the best physical therapist in the world, who provides the necessary one on one physical therapy with a dedicated and consistent physical therapist, and he performs an individualized assessment to produce a unique rehabilitation program with follow-up, feedback, and adjustment as necessary. His excellent PT company is: Central Oahu Physical Therapy Specialists.
Procedures I Perform:
- Prolotherapy
- Autologous blood Injections
- Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections
- Dry Needling
- Exercise Stress Test
- Intracompartmental Pressure Monitoring for Exertional Compartment Syndrome
- Corticosteroid (Steroid) Injections
- Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
- Trigger Point Injections
- Viscosupplementation Injections
- Ganglion cyst aspirations
Commonly Treated Diagnoses:
- Tendonitis/Tendinopathy – rotator cuff, patellar tendon, achilles tendon, biceps, tennis/golfer’s elbow, trigger finger
- Stress fractures
- Osteoarthritis – knee, hip, shoulder, ankle, fingers/hand, ankle
- Ligament sprains
- Muscle strains
- Fractures
- Concussion (mild traumatic brain injury)
- Athletes with chronic or acute illness (such as infectious mononucleosis, asthma or diabetes)
- Education about nutrition, supplements, ergogenic aids, and performance issues
- Exercise prescriptions for different fitness goals
- Injury prevention
- “Return to play” decisions in the sick or injured athlete
- Safe strength training and conditioning recommendations
- Healthy lifestyle promotion
- Ganglion cysts
- Heat illness
- Rhabdomyolysis
What is the difference between a Sports Medicine Physician and an Orthopedic Surgeon?
- Both are well trained in musculoskeletal medicine
- Sports Medicine Physicians specialize in the non-operative treatment of musculoskeletal conditions whereas Orthopedic surgeons primarily focus on operative management
- 90% of all sports injuries are non-surgical, and thus would benefit from having sports medicine expertise
- Sports Medicine Physicians can maximize non-operative treatment, guide appropriate referrals to physical and occupational therapies, and if necessary, expedite referral to an orthopedic/sports surgeon
See Related Sports Medicine Posts and Pages:
Aloha my 15 yr old son is currently active in high school baseball and was limited to playing this past year because of his thigh and groin area hurting. I had taken him to his pediatrician who first stated that he has minor scoliosis. At or about the same time my wife had an appointment with her chiropractor who was willing to see him and determined that his hip flexor problems and was able to work on him a couple of times. But then it had become irritated at the end of his j.v. season. Per the schools aide we needed to go back to our pediatrician and get a referral to a sports doctor before he was allowed to return to baseball. Through xrays she had also determined that it was his hip flexor and had done several exercise with him and was released because of the time of his visit it no longer hurted. She had also informed me that the hip flexors are an intermittent problem.
Again during his varsity season the coaches didn’t allow him to play much because of the injury. Now that its summer legions and after his second game he had told me that its hurting again and he’s really frustrated. After talking with a friend whos a rehab therapist, she had suggested maybe looking into dry needling. Is this something that you can help with? If so, please let me know when is your next available opening. If not can you point me in the right direction.
Thanks, Sam
Dear Sam,
Yes, I do dry needling when appropriate, after seeing and evaluating patients based on their individual issues/needs. I work at Tripler Army Medical Center and only see Tricare beneficiaries. Because I am a specialty clinic for primary care Sports Medicine patients need a referral from their primary care physician. I would be happy to see your son if you have Tricare insurance.
If you do not have Tricare insurance, based on what you’re telling me about already seeing Sports Medicine and this being a chronic issue, then I recommend getting a Physical Therapy referral to help identify and work on your son’s chronic biomechanical faults, which is likely causing imbalances that are causing his hip flexor issues. His hip flexor tightness and spasm are likely due to an underlying problem, and the result of the biomechanical issues, and to fix the hip flexors he needs to work on these issues before the hip flexor issue will permanently be resolved. I recommend physical therapy where he gets one on one individualized therapy with just a physical therapist, no aides. My husband’s civilian physical therapy clinic, Central Oahu Physical Therapy Specialists, is where I recommend first and also I recommend when people have failed PT elsewhere. If you really want dry needling, I actually recommend acupuncture instead, which is similar, but based on ancient Chinese principles. Dr Catherine Kurosu in Kailua is an MD who also does acupuncture and she is excellent! I highly recommend her. Please let me know if you have further questions or concerns.
Aloha, I’m an athlete that have some pain in the hip area. All MRIs, emg show that back and hip are normal. I’m looking for someone in the island who can perform dry needling. You can reach me at 808-798-8926
Thanks in advance, Maria
Hi Maria, are you Military or a Military dependent? Physical therapists in the military system are able to do dry needling. You would just need to get a referral from your primary care doctor. Dry needling in the civilian world is not usually covered by insurance. I don’t personally know any civilian physicians who perform dry needling, but your best bet would be to call pain management physicians, or acupuncturists. Dry needling and acupuncture are not the same thing, but they both utilize acupuncture needles and both are designed to decreased you pain. Good luck!