NJ Sports Medicine
An active lifestyle is important to millions of individuals, and the sports medical doctors at AOSMI are dedicated to keeping bodies in motion. From everyday athletes to weekend warriors to anyone wishing to live a healthy lifestyle, Sports Medicine is the best way to keep your body active on and off the playing field. AOSMI Sports Medicine Specialists are athletes and fitness fanatics themselves, and have firsthand experience, and a wealth of knowledge that help us customize treatment plans for individuals to live a pain free life, and lower the risk for injury.
Sports medicine is an orthopedic care specialty that is devoted to the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries. Our sports injury doctors aren’t confined to any specific areas of the body, rather we focus on all of the joints, tendons, muscles, and bones involved in athletic activities. The structures most at risk from sporting injuries are the ligaments and tendons that stabilize and activate the joints. Certain sports are associated with specific types of injuries. For example runners often have foot and knee injuries, and pitchers often injure their shoulders and elbows.
Causes of Sports Injuries
Typical cause of sports related injuries includes:
Conditions
Depending on the body part, some of the most common conditions related to sports injuries include:
- Shoulder – Rotator cuff tear, labral tear / SLAP tear, bursitis, tendonitis
- Elbow – Tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, little leaguer’s elbow
- Hip – Labral tear, femoro-acetabular impingement, bursitis
- Knee – Meniscus tear, ligament (ACL/MCL) tear, cartilage damage
- Foot/Ankle – Tendonitis, ankle sprain
Evaluation
As with any injury, it’s important to determine exactly what structures are involved and how severe your injury is. Our Sports Medicine Physicians always start with a detailed history and physical exam followed by an x-ray of the injured area. If no fractures are seen, further testing with MRI is often necessary to diagnose injuries to ligaments and tendons.
Treatments
Conservative
The specialists at our orthopedic and sports institute have many non-invasive treatments to treat mild athletic injuries using a combination of the following:
- Medication
- Massage and Acupuncture
- Sports Specific Physical Therapy
- Bracing
- Steroid Injections
- Damage Tissue Regeneration – EPAT
Surgical
Sports medicine specialists have made great advances in treating the vast majority of injuries in a minimally invasive, arthroscopic fashion.
- Arthroscopic Surgery – To look inside the injured joint using tiny incisions and long, narrow, fiber-optic cameras and instruments. Injured structures are repaired or reconstructed in a minimally invasive fashion.
- Hip Arthroscopy with arthroscopic labral repair and treatment of femoro-acetabular impingement
- Knee Arthroscopy with meniscus repair and ligament (ACL) transplant
- Shoulder Arthroscopy with rotator cuff repair and labral repair
- Cartilage Repair – Through the Cartilage Center of New Jersey, the sport injury doctors at AOSMI conduct cartilage repair, regrowth and regeneration