Sports traumatology is the branch of the specialty of Traumatology that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of injuries that occur after practicing a particular sport.
– Prevention: preventing injuries through stretching, balance and muscle strengthening.
– Diagnosis: the diagnosis is made when, thanks to the clinical experience of the medical specialist, the symptoms explained by the patient are interpreted and the injuries are detected.
– Treatment: conservative treatment based on physiotherapy with the appropriate deadlines for return to sport or surgical repair of injuries that require attention to return to the situation prior to the sports trauma.
Most frequent sports injuries
The sports injuries that are most frequently treated in the office of a traumatologist expert in sports traumatology are:
- Ankle and wrist injuries: ankle and wrist sprain, muscle fibrillar strain or tear, tendinopathy (tennis elbow, golf elbow), Achilles tendon rupture.
- Knee injuries: sprains of the internal lateral ligament, meniscus tear and anterior or posterior cruciate ligament.
- Knee and ankle cartilage injuries: osteochondritis in adolescents or traumatic osteochondral injury.
- Shoulder injuries: dislocation, cuff tendinopathy and instabilities.
When the trauma is more intense, more serious injuries can occur such as ankle and wrist fracture due to direct impact; or the clavicle fracture typical in cyclists and motorcyclists.
Treatment of sports injuries
There are different techniques in the treatment of sports injuries, depending on the stage of diagnosis (acute or chronic) and the type of injury.
In the acute phase there are a wide variety of treatments, such as sports rest with short-term anti-inflammatory drugs, functional bandages that allow daily life while protecting the recovery and early physiotherapy aimed at accelerating the healing process. In cases of acute fibrillar ruptures, it may be useful to evacuate the hematoma from the muscle and inject Platelet Rich Plasma to accelerate healing.
Some sports injuries require immediate surgical treatment such as fractures or dislocations. Fractures are treated by open reductions and subsequent placement of plates, screws or pins. Dislocations can be treated with minimally invasive techniques by arthroscopy.
The goal of treatment is always the recovery of the injured patient and the return to sport in the shortest possible time. To achieve this early recovery, all techniques are used: early physiotherapy, minimally invasive surgery via arthroscopy, growth factors and Platelet Rich Plasma.
Complications in sports injuries
Delayed healing and return to sport is usually the most frequent complication. It can usually happen for several reasons: a delay or misdiagnosis of the injury, painful scars with fibrosis, hasty return to sport and poor management of the treatment without respecting the time limits for healing.
To avoid these complications it is necessary to get an early diagnosis by the specialist in Traumatology to apply the most appropriate treatment from the first day. This is the only way to achieve healing by returning to sports practice at the pre-accident level.