What is sports medicine?

Silicon Valley Sports Surgeons are experienced with sports medicine and employ trained and experienced orthopedic sports medicine physicians serving Northern California and Beyond. Whether you are an amateur or a professional athlete you can be assured an orthopedic specialist within SVSS will be available and qualified to care to your orthopedic sports medicine needs.

Common injuries that require an orthopedic sports medicine physician or orthopedic specialist may include:

1 - Torn Ligaments. A torn ligament is an injury to a tough, ropelike fiber that connects a bone to another bone. Sudden force, a direct blow to a joint, a deep cut, or a smashing injury can cause ligaments to tear.

Symptoms of a torn ligament may include:

• A pop or snap felt or heard at the time of the tear.
• Pain and swelling.
• A wobbly, unstable joint.
• Limited movement (mainly because of pain.)

Treatment for a torn ligament varies, depending on the location and severity of the tear, the presence of other injuries, and the person's age and overall health. A partial tear may heal with the use of a splint for several weeks, while a complete tear may require surgery.

2 - Subluxing Shoulders. The term SUBLUXATION describes a "partial" dislocation. The unstable shoulder never fully falls out of the socket and the sensation of a slip is more instantaneous and transient. It never jumps fully out of place and never requires someone to reduce it (pull it back in place) as often as occurs in a DISLOCATION.

Subluxations may be just as functionally limiting as dislocations since these "partial dislocations" may occur many times a day and force one to cease a sport or completely avoid particular movements within a sport. As the same tissues are torn in each condition, the difference arises mainly in the degree of damage.

3 - Tennis Elbow. Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is the most common injury in patients seeking medical attention with the complaint of elbow pain. Exactly what causes tennis elbow is unknown, but it is thought to be due to small tears of the tendons that attach the muscles of the forearm to the arm bone at the elbow joint.

The muscle group involved, the wrist extensors, function to cock the wrist back. Specifically, the extensor carpi radialis brevis, has been implicated in causing the symptoms of tennis elbow.

What are the symptoms of tennis elbow?
Patients with the tennis elbow syndrome experience pain on the outside of the elbow that is worsened by grasping objects and cocking back the wrist. The most common symptoms of tennis elbow are:

• Pain over the outside of the elbow.
• Pain when lifting objects.
• Pain radiating down the forearm.

The pain associated with tennis elbow usually has a gradual onset, but may also come on suddenly.

4 - Torn Meniscous. Individuals who experience a meniscus tear usually experience pain and swelling as their primary symptoms. Another common complaint is joint locking, or the inability to completely straighten the joint. This is due to a piece of the torn cartilage physically impinging the joint mechanism of the knee.

The most common symptoms of a meniscus tear are:

• Knee pain.
• Swelling of the knee.
• Tenderness when pressing on the meniscus.
• Popping or clicking within the knee.
• Limited motion of the knee joint.

5 - Rotator Cuff Tear. The rotator cuff is the name for the tendons that surround the shoulder joint. The rotator cuff is important in allowing the shoulder to function through a wide range of motions. In part due to the rotator cuff, the shoulder joint can move and turn through a wider range than any other joint in the body. This motion of the shoulder joint allows us to perform an amazing variety of tasks with our arms.

Unfortunately, a rotator cuff tear is not an uncommon problem, and these injuries make many routine activities difficult and painful. The rotator cuff is part of this mechanism that, when healthy functions very well, but when injured can be a difficult and frustrating problem.

To make an appointment with our orthopedic sports medicine doctor, physician or specialist contact us.