If you run or play sports, you regularly put your body under stress, even if you properly warm up, cool down, and take steps to prevent injury. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but over time, it can increase your risk of wear and tear, leading to sprains, strains, and other more serious issues.
Working with a sports medicine expert can help keep athletes of all ages at the top of their game. It can treat an injury if you experience one, but it can also teach you how to keep your body healthy and recover more quickly.
At Woodlands Center for Special Surgery, in The Woodlands and Willis, Texas, our team offers various sports medicine services. This blog explains some of the sports injuries we can treat, provides tips on injury prevention, and explains how sports medicine can enhance your performance safely.
Sports injuries and trauma affect athletes of all ages, but some injuries are more common in children and teens, while others are more common in adults. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Many children and teens continue growing into their early 20s. Because their bones are still somewhat soft and developing, while their muscles and tendons are relatively stronger, playing sports can place additional stress on their bodies and increase the risk of sprains, growth plate injuries, and fractures.
Adults have the opposite problem in that their bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments are more susceptible to age-related wear and tear. Activities you might have had no problem with in your early 20s can take a toll over time, increasing the risk of muscle strains, stress fractures, tendonitis, and other overuse injuries.
The good news is that regardless of your age, prompt diagnosis and treatment can prevent lasting consequences. Sports medicine can support your healing and identify issues, such as gait abnormalities, that make it easier to hurt yourself. You can then use that information to adjust your workouts and stay injury-free.
Beyond treating injuries, sports medicine can offer tips to help prevent them.
After reviewing your health history, asking about your exercise habits, and completing a physical exam, we can make personalized preventive recommendations. These may include:
Regular checkups with our sports medicine experts are a great way to tailor your exercise routine in a way that makes sense for your activity, your level of effort, and your body. We can even help you identify early warning signs of injury to prevent problems from worsening.
Even with the best prevention strategies, injuries can still happen, but treating them promptly can help you get back in the game sooner. Our sports medicine experts offer both minimally invasive and surgical treatments to assist in this process when needed.
Most sports injuries benefit from a multistep treatment approach that includes over-the-counter or prescription pain medication, rest or activity changes, and supportive devices such as braces or orthotics.
If these approaches don’t provide sufficient relief and your symptoms persist for several weeks, we may recommend regenerative medicine treatments, such as stem cell injections, PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections, or surgery in the case of a severe injury.
The goal is to help you recover as quickly as possible and without harming your ability to run, play sports, or do the other activities you love.
After you finish healing from an injury, the next step is getting back to peak performance. Our sports medicine experts can assist you with that, too, by:
This support can reduce the risk of reinjury and help you perform at your best.
Sports medicine can support athletes of all ages and activity levels through injury treatment, prevention, and lifestyle coaching. No matter your goals, we’re here to help you stay active and perform at your best.
To make an appointment, contact Woodlands Center for Special Surgery today by calling the office near you.
