Sports medicine

From Medical City Healthcare's network of sports medicine specialists, you can receive customized orthopedic care for common and complex musculoskeletal and orthopedic conditions.

A sprain is a stretch and/or tear of a ligament (a band of fibrous tissue connecting bones at joints). A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon (a fibrous cord of tissue connecting muscle to bone).

Sprains and strains are common sports and workplace injuries. The National Institutes of Health estimates more than 628,000 people suffer ankle sprains in the U.S. every year.

Groin and hamstring pulls and tennis elbow are other common sprain and strain injuries.

If your strain or sprain isn't severe, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen or naproxen, may relieve your pain and swelling. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking any medications.

You may also follow "R.I.C.E." to administer care at home:

• Rest—Avoid activities that cause pain.
• Ice—Apply ice or cold packs. The first day, apply an ice pack every hour for up to 15 minutes at a time. After the first day, apply an ice pack at least four times a day.
• Compression—Apply some compression to the area. An elastic bandage is better than a firm plastic bandage (such as zinc-oxide tape) because it's flexible. Anything non-elastic can hamper blood flow.
• Elevation—Elevate the injury to increase blood return. This may help reduce swelling.

Take the Hip and Knee Health Assessment

See your orthopedic doctor or sports medicine specialist for a sprain or strain if:

• Your pain is severe and you can’t put weight on the injured area.
• You can’t move the injured area.
• You can’t walk more than four steps without significant pain.
• Your limb buckles or gives way.
• You have numbness in any part of the injured area.
• The injured area is crooked or has lumps and bumps (other than swelling) that weren't there before the injury.
• You see redness or red streaks spreading out from the injury.
• You re-injure a previous injury.
• You have pain, swelling or redness over a bony part of your foot.
• You aren’t sure about the seriousness of the injury or how to care for it.

Take the Back and Neck Health Assessment

Many other bone and muscular injuries are associated with exercise and work. In addition to the conditions listed above, we treat the following common sports injuries.

This dull pain along the inner part of the lower two-thirds of the shin bone primarily affects runners—especially novice runners. Shin splints also occur more frequently in people with flat feet. This condition can be caused by:

• Repeated trauma to the connective muscle tissue surrounding the tibia
• Improper warm-up or stretching
• Overtraining
• Running or jumping on hard surfaces
• Unsupportive footwear

As a complex, weight-bearing joint, the knee is susceptible to a wide range of potential injuries. Ignoring knee pain now can have lasting effects that may become debilitating later in life. Your orthopedic doctor can pinpoint the exact issue and recommend a treatment plan.

A fracture is any break in a bone. It can result from a single, traumatic injury (acute) or from repeated stress to the bone over time (stress).

Dislocations happen when two bones that meet to form a joint are separated. The majority of dislocated joints happen during contact/high-impact sports and sports that require excessive stretching or falling.

When you use a set of muscles too much, you’re likely to strain the tendons that connect those muscles to your bones. This type of strain is known as "tendonitis."

Pain or swelling may come and go quickly at first, but if you do too much too soon, your muscles may overtire again. The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel bone. If tendonitis occurs there, you may feel pain when your foot touches down or when your heel lifts off the ground.

The most common symptom of tennis elbow is pain on the outer side of the elbow and down the forearm. You may have pain all the time or only when you lift things. The elbow may also swell, get red or feel warm to the touch.

This is a common injury in beginner athletes who overtrain one set of muscles.

The IT band is a band of fibrous tissue that connects from the hip past the knee. Often, new runners will mistake inflammation of the IT band for a knee injury.

A meniscus is a disc that cushions your knee. You have two on each leg—one each on your knee's inner and outer edges.

The plantar fascia is a ligament-like band attached from the heel to the ball of your foot. This band pulls on the heel bone, raising the arch of your foot as it pushes off the ground. If your foot moves incorrectly, the plantar fascia may become strained, resulting in plantar fasciitis.

The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and connecting tendons in the shoulder. It attaches your upper arm to your shoulder blade. Your rotator cuff helps you reach, throw, push, pull and lift.

Bursa is a fluid-filled sac that helps cushion the muscles, tendons and bones in a joint. When a bursa becomes inflamed, it’s referred to as "bursitis." Common symptoms of bursitis include pain, tenderness and swelling that limits movement of the joint.