A Sports Medicine physician’s scope of care includes diagnosing and managing acute injuries, musculoskeletal conditions and illnesses that affect lifestyle and performance.
Common conditions may include:
- Acute and overuse injuries (sprains, strains, fractures, tendonitis)
- Chronic musculoskeletal conditions (chronic muscle injuries, osteoarthritis)
- Concussions and concussion management
- Pre-participation physical assessments to determine safety of engaging in specific sport related activities
- Return-to-play decisions for the sick or injured athlete
- Athletes with chronic or acute illnesses (such as mono, asthma, hypertension or diabetes)
- Many more
Once a diagnosis is established, we will recommend a treatment plan. This could include:
- Physical rehabilitation (physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, osteopathy)
- Medications to manage symptoms
- Bracing and taping
- Exercise and performance counselling
- Joint injections for pain relief (corticosteroid, viscosupplement/joint jelly)
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) or “blood spinning”
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy supports faster healing of soft tissue injuries of tendons, ligaments and muscles. It uses the body’s own blood to naturally stimulate tissue and wound healing and may eliminate the need for more extensive treatment, like surgery. The PRP procedure involves drawing blood and placing it in a centrifuge where it is spun down and separated into layers. This yields a set of growth factors and platelets with three to five times the concentration found in normal blood. This is injected into the injured area, where it can help to shorten recovery time, decrease pain and improve performance in the injured area. - Stem cell injections
A regenerative cell-based therapy that can be used to treat inflammatory conditions such as tendonitis or joint pain conditions so that patients can get back to enjoying their lives – pain-free. This course of treatment has been shown to be effective in treating conditions that are unresponsive to traditional therapies, and they may also facilitate tissue repair.