Sports medicine is a specialty that must provide an immediate response to the high demands in terms of the medical results and the athlete’s deadlines.
In other words, a quick and satisfactory convalescence .
Not surprisingly, the injured athlete aims to resume their training sessions and sports competition as soon as possible .Their recovery is oriented so that the loss of the sports level reached before the injury does not occur, hence the importance of the avidity and expertise of the professional who performs the intervention.
In both professional and amateur sports practice, sports prevention plans take on great importance . Their goal is to avoid injuries through specific training programs, biomechanical studies, and sports nutrition programs
When are injuries produced?
Usually sports injuries occur in competitions and training sessions carried out by professional athletes , although they are also suffered by amateur athletes.
Between 80-90% of sports injuries are treated conservatively by physiotherapy and biological therapies (for more information see regenerative medicine click here ). Although in some cases these treatments fail and surgical treatment is required. At this time, the sports traumatologist comes into action. The surgeon treating a professional or recreational athlete must know the expectations and needs of the athlete, their level of activity and state of the season. These data determine the planning and execution of treatment. The functional requirements and speed of recovery are two key points in the athlete, because the athlete can not wait.
Which solutions does the arthroscopy technique offer for athletes ?
The pathologies treated usually correspond to traumatic or overuse pathologies. Acute injuries are usually the result of a single, traumatic event while overuse injuries are the result of repetitive micro-trauma. Overuse injuries are the most common. They are subtle and usually occur over time, making them challenging to diagnose and treat.
In sports surgery, most injuries are resolved with arthroscopic techniques or ultrasound-guided techniques. The arthroscopies that are performed in our hospital are detailed below:
Shoulder arthroscopy
The most frequent injuries treated are; Rotator cuff tears (shoulder tendon rupture), recurrent shoulder instability or dislocation, frozen shoulder, calcifying tendonitis, subacromial syndrome, and acromioclavicular injuries.
Elbow arthroscopy
External elbow epicondylitis, elbow tendinitis or “tennis elbow”, radial head fractures, synovial plicae … all these pathologies are carried out with an arthroscopic treatment.
Wrist arthroscopy
Surgery of the hand and wrist has also been strongly promoted by this surgical technique indicated for the repair of certain wrist fractures, rhizarthrosis or arthrosis of the thumb, scaphoid fractures, synovial cysts, ligament injuries, triangular fibrocartilage injuries…
Knee arthroscopy
Partial resection or repair of meniscus, cruciate ligament reconstruction, patellar plica, chondromalacia patella, or foreign body removal are some of the more common indications.
REFERENCES
Trends in the Use of Knee Arthroscopy in Adults.Howard DH.JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Sep 24. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.4175. PMID:30264154
Ryan P Judy , Jason J Shin , Christopher McCrum , Olufemi R Ayeni , Kristian Samuelsson , Volker Musahl .Level of Evidence and Authorship Trends of Clinical Studies in Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 1995-2015. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 26 (1), 9-14 Jan 2018. PMID: 29138917 DOI: 10.1007/s00167-017-4801-6
Carr AJ, Price AJ, Glyn-Jones S, Rees JL. Advances in arthroscopy-indications and therapeutic applications. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2015 Feb;11(2):77-85. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2014.174. Epub 2014 Oct 28.PMID: 25348038
If you would like more information about sports injuries, don’t hesitate to ask Dr. Villanova any questions:
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