Sports Medicine

What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine at Burlingame Orthopedics involves diagnosing and treating sports injuries. The practice specializes in orthopedic surgery but also offers conservative treatments to help you recover as quickly as possible and reduce your risk of further injuries.

What are examples of sports injuries?

Common sports injuries among athletes include:

• Shoulder injuries
• Rotator cuff tears
• Knee injuries
• ACL and MCL tears
• Tendinitis
• Fractures
• Foot and ankle injuries
• Elbow injuries
• Head injuries
• Sprains and strains
• Tendon, muscle, and ligament injuries
• Soft-tissue tears
• Dislocations

While some sports injuries heal on their own, others require medical care to maximize recovery without complications.

The symptoms of a sports injury include pain, swelling, visible tissue deformities, stiffness, warmth, redness, bruising, and decreased mobility or range of motion.

What increases my risk of sports injuries?

Anyone who plays sports is at risk of sports injuries. Specific risk factors include:

• Overtraining
• Playing contact sports
• Age-related wear-and-tear
• Not warming up properly 
• Carrying excess weight
• Improper training
• Poor nutrition
• Lack of strength or flexibility

Proper training is an excellent way to reduce the risk of sports injuries, but you can’t always avoid them.

Which sports medicine treatments are best for me?

The Burlingame Orthopedics team discusses your medical history and symptoms to pinpoint the cause of sport-related pain. They examine injured areas of your body during a physical exam, discuss your treatment preferences and goals, and complete imaging procedures or perform arthroscopy to make a final diagnosis and treat your injury effectively.

Which sports medicine treatments are available?

Burlingame Orthopedics offers many sports injury treatments, including:

• Rest and ice or heat
• Bracing
• Casting
• Physical therapy
• Injections
• Fracture care
• Arthroscopy
• CT scan guided-surgery
• Rotator cuff repair
• Knee surgery
• Other joint surgeries

Burlingame Orthopedics also provides partial and total knee replacement surgery, shoulder replacement, and many other joint replacement procedures.

You might be a candidate for more than one sports medicine treatment to ensure the best results.

Follow up with your provider as needed to ensure that you heal properly. Call the Burlingame Orthopedics office anytime with questions or if you suffer a new sports injury.

Wear comfortable shoes when training, avoid overtraining, warm up before workouts, and use protective sports equipment when playing contact sports to lower your chance of reinjury.

Schedule a sports medicine evaluation at Burlingame Orthopedics by phone or request one online today.