SPORTS MEDICINE

Participating in sports can lead to direct trauma injuries that affect your ligaments, cartilage, and soft tissues. You can also experience long-term damage from sports-related activity due to overuse injuries and stress on your joints. Some activities may increase your risk for degenerative conditions, like arthritis.

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Common sports-related injuries include:

• Sprains

• Strains

• Fractures

• Dislocations

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Long-term damage from high impact sports can also result in chronic pain and conditions like cervical radiculopathy. This progressive disease causes herniated spinal discs or the growth of bone spurs that compress your nerves and lead to chronic pain, numbness, and loss of mobility.

These injuries can occur from direct trauma from falls or contact with other players. Many people develop injuries due to improper warmup techniques or from not using protective gear.

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To confirm conditions like fractures or a dislocation, you may need X-rays or other imaging tests. These diagnostic tests can also rule out other potential causes of your pain and symptoms.

Once your condition is understood, Dr. Bishai creates a custom treatment plan to quickly alleviate your pain and ensure you heal properly, so you can return to your active lifestyle.

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Initially, Dr. Bishai may recommend rest and ice therapy to alleviate pain from strains and sprains in your soft tissues. Wrapping the area in a bandage and elevating it above your heart can also control swelling and minimize pain. In some cases, the use of orthotics, like shoe inserts, can improve your mobility and protect you from additional injury.

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For fractures, you may need a period of immobilization to let the bone heal. Some fractures may also require surgery to realign bones. Surgery may also be the recommended treatment for recurrent dislocations when other therapies aren't effective.

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If you have chronic pain due to cervical radiculopathy, osteoarthritis, or other degenerative condition, Dr. Bishai may recommend physical therapy, surgery, or viscosupplementation.

This treatment involves injections of hyaluronic acid into the affected joint to reduce friction and help the joint move more freely.