Sports Medicine Physician, One-stop Service

A sports medicine physician can sometimes be stereotyped in treating injuries only related to athletics. It is the misconception that a sports doctor deals with on a daily basis that all they do is treat injuries geared toward sports. This false statement has pinned a sports doctor as one who has a limited supply of knowledge when treating patients. The reality is that a sports medicine physician goes through the very same process as any other doctor; if anything it can be difficult for a sports medicine physician as they can get a wide variety of patients that come in.

A sports doctor can be a one-stop shop for a plethora of injuries because you as the patient can schedule a consultation, go through surgery, and get rehabilitated all in one place. The surgical portion of the visit (depending on the severity of the injury) can result in arthroscopic surgery that requires the sports doctor to make small incisions are made on the affected area and a small camera is placed in that area, giving the doctors a better idea as to what is going on without the process in removing skin and tissue. Then there is the post-op procedure that requires rehab protocols in order for the muscle to heal a lot better. Rehabilitation requires constant stretching and keeping the muscle active for a period of time so it can develop the strength to heal faster.

Still think a sports doctor is only geared toward athletes? To say athletes do not go to sports doctors would be a complete lie; but there any many non-athletes ranging from a wide demographic who do go to these special doctors. Anyone with low-back pain, joint issues, tears, and in need of soft-tissue repair can go to a sports doctor for help. If you or anyone experiences these issues then please set-up a consultation with your local physician today.

Why Stretching is Important for Everyday Life

Think about the last time you actually stretched, and I mean really stretched. I’m talking about the last time you actually made it a point to get to an activity early to take time and focus on stretching out each muscle. There doesn’t even need to be an activity for this to happen. The realty is stretching has been forgotten by many as we left our high school gym class a long time ago. For those who are still in school, I hope you are still stretching and focusing on improving your physical activity every day. We all feel we can handle situations and diagnose ourselves as the best sports doctor since it is our body. When we neglect stretching we are basically going into a workout not prepared. Similar to warming up for an exercise by performing light weight movements, the stretch is the workout before the actual workout. By not engaging the body in stretching, many will feel fine for a period of time and think that they are indestructible. Then outta nowhere something happens were you feel a slight tightness. This tightness is a new feeling but can undergo some getting used to, therefore you avoid going to a sports injury doctor.

Your body now becomes a ticking time bomb that can go off at any moment and cause severe pain that will require time off. This kind of pain can happen during a workout, walking down the street, or even getting out of bed. Many factors can play into why you are experiencing this pain. But one idea makes sense; the fact that you forgot to stretch. Stretching improves the muscles felt elasticity where the control of the muscle is improved along with flexibility, and range of motion. This, in non-medical terms will help you function in everyday life. No one wants to act like the tin man, feeling uncomfortable pain and relying on icy/hot patches to help. All can be avoided by taking yoga, engaging in mobility drills, and visiting a sports injury doctor for help, as stretching incorrectly can only make matters worse.

Dr. Rob Palumbo is a Pennsylvania sports doctor who understands the pain that most feel from not stretching. As one of the nation’s leading sport injury doctors, he has taken his experiences and used them to open up his own Pennsylvania sports injury clinic with hopes in helping a wide demographic young and old. Working with professional athletes as well. Dr. Palumbo had this to say about stretching, “stretching plays a crucial part in both athletes and non-athletes. It is something that needs to be performed by everyone. If not, it can cause serious injury that can cause an immense amount of stress on the body.” The best sports doctors are the ones who studied sports medicine. Trust them with the process as they will lead the way in helping you achieve maximum health and quality on life. 

Orthopedic Surgeons vs. Sports Medicine Physicians

Orthopedic surgery is a branch of surgery and a focus of medicine that involves the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons are often specialists in sports medicine as well in order to offer their patients optimum support. Orthopedic surgeons practice surgical and nonsurgical means in order to treat different sports injuries, traumas, infections, disorders, diseases, and tumors. Orthopedic surgeons generally face countless similar abnormalities as sports medicine physicians. Therefore they either team up and often work together such as a part of a sports medicine clinic or most commonly an orthopedic surgeon also may specialize in sports medicine.

Though orthopedic surgeons treat non-surgical injuries as well as surgical, many of the common surgical procedures include arthroscopies of numerous kinds, joint replacements, fracture repairs, and spinal fusions. Arthroscopic surgery is a very common procedure that allows a lot of choices and worry free procedures amongst patients. A reason why arthroscopy is so common is that it can be used for multiple measures, as well as having a very small impact as a traditional surgery might with a fast recovery time.

In addition to an arthroscopic surgery, orthopedic surgeons are generally specialists with arthroplasty procedures. Arthroplastic surgery is generally an elective procedure where arthritis patients hope for the surgery to relieve pain and restore function in the affected joint. An example of an arthroplastic surgery is a procedure such as a hip or knee replacement.

Sports medicine physicians work with arthritis patients as well as orthopedic surgeons. Sports medicine doctors will work with them not so much on a surgical aspect as an orthopedic would but more so, on a treatment level ranging from going to physical therapy to learning how to strengthen and live about your arthritis. Generally a sports medicine physician deals with physical fitness and the prevention of sports related injuries before they become bad enough where surgery by an orthopedic surgeon is necessary.

Sports medicine and orthopedic specialists will often work together to create the best treatment plan possible for patients with conditions as severe as osteoarthritis.  Osteoarthritis is a condition mainly affecting older people by limiting their range of motion and looseness of joints, typically affecting knees, hips and shoulders. As a sports doctor would start by trying medication, different levels of exercises, and gentle stretching to help ease the pain, an orthopedic surgeon may suggest carrying out surgery. Surgery would involve a prosthetic joint, which is found to be very common among older osteoarthritis patients but is also seen as a last resort for the patient.

Both orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine physician’s work together to give their patients optimum benefits and recovery no matter what their injury or abnormality may be. It is unbelievable all that technology has to offer to bring such success with such little harm through technological advances.

Rotator Cuff Injuries - Palumbo Sports Medicine

One of the most common causes for visiting an orthopedic specialist is for rotator cuff injuries. Rotator cuff injuries have become more and more common as people’s exercises have become more repetitive and strenuous. Though it is most likely to adapt a rotator cuff injury from repetitive exercise, it is still possible to still injure your rotator cuff by sudden incidents. Some widely known risk factors of these tears are largely caused by the normal use of the rotator and age. As well, careers such as carpentry, or athletes such as tennis and baseball players, are much more at risk of tearing their rotator cuff than an average person just falling.

Palumbo Sports Medicine

 There are usually symptoms that come along with a rotator cuff tear, which if you notice any of these symptoms happening to you, you should visit your sports medicine physician or a sports injury clinic as soon as you notice them. Some of the most common symptoms of a rotator cuff tear comprise of pain while resting, lifting/lowering your arm, weakness when lifting or rotating your arm and or a crackling feeling. These symptoms will vary based on the person, however, they’re usually more intensified if a tear occurred more suddenly compared to a tear that develops from overuse. A tear caused to overuse is more likely to feel symptoms such as weakness or radiating pain down your arm when you move or lift the injured arm. The pain symptoms from overuse will likely occur randomly compared to an injury on impact.

Sports doctors and orthopedic surgeons help these symptoms in many ways. Most sports physicians will go through your symptoms with you to pin point that it is a tear in your rotator cuff and that the pain isn’t a pinched never coming from your neck. Once your sports doctor recognizes the injury as a tear, they will likely send you for x-rays, ultrasound, or an MRI, to confirm the diagnosis. Once a patient is confirmed to have a rotator cuff tear the orthopedic surgeon will advise a few different plans of action in order to stop your pain and help your injury get better. Early treatment can prevent the symptoms of a tear from getting worse. Some preventative advice that your sports medicine physician may give to help treat the pain could include: rest, modifying your activity, strengthening exercises/physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory medication.

However, if treatment doesn’t reduce pain and restore function as planned, there are countless other options for a rotator cuff injury. Sports physicians and orthopedic surgeons work with rotator cuff injury patients multiple times a day. Therefore the best sports doctors know what procedures may fit best with your lifestyle. For example, arthroscopic surgery is a very short recovery time, low stress procedure with really successful results. Be sure to check in with your sports medicine physician or orthopedic surgeon as soon as you feel these symptoms.

A Closer Look at Arthroscopy Surgery

Arthroscopy is a surgical procedure that’s performed in order to diagnose and/or treat joint abnormalities. It is usually an outpatient procedure that can be performed using general, regional, local, or spinal anesthetic. The most popular reason people are choosing arthroscopic surgery is that the incisions required are small, the recovery time is low, and the overall process is much simpler than traditional surgical processes. The internal structure of a joint is examined via a tube-like viewing instrument called an arthroscope.

Arthroscopic surgery allows for more of an accurate examination of the joint, as well as less damage to the surrounding tissue, less pain after the surgery and a faster recovery. Arthroscopic surgery is very common in the diagnosis and treatment of most inflammatory, infectious, and noninflammatory types of arthritis in addition to different injuries amongst the joints.

 

Arthroscopic surgical procedures

If you have a joint injury or something that could be seriously wrong with a joint or ligament, be sure to visit a sports medicine physician. A sports doctor may suggest an arthroscopic surgery in order to understand, diagnose, and treat ongoing joint problems. In many occurrences, a sports physician may advocate, after an arthroscopic procedure, that physical therapy, rest, or bio joint restoration may be in order. By making a small incision in the patient’s skin your sports medical doctor will insert a pencil-sized instrument, comprising of a small lens, to examine what the issue is inside of the joint being looked at.

Amongst younger patients with isolated cartilage injuries, sports medicine physicians have been able to harvest and create cells from the patient’s own cartilage cells. Through an arthroscopic surgical process, these cells are then used to help the patient’s injury. Arthroscopic procedures generally have low blood loss and few complications.

Immediately after arthroscopic surgery patients are expected to be drowsy, that is if a general anesthetic has been used. If a local anesthetic has been used it is likely that there may be no pain at all following the procedure. Directly upon returning home patients will most likely be asked to elevate the joint that had the procedure done, in order to rest it. After arthroscopic surgery, sports medical doctors will prescribe an exercise program in order to strengthen the muscles that surround the operated joint. By doing so, the patient is likely to prevent scarring of the soft tissues that surround the joint.

Arthroscopic surgery is so advanced that it allows sports medicine physicians to examine almost every joint including the knee, shoulder, elbow, hip, wrist, and foot. It is common for patients to return to everyday life and physical activity shortly after arthroscopic surgery. Only highly trained surgeons have been taught the techniques needed to excel and help their patients get back on their feet the in the most efficient manner.