QUALITY SPORTS MEDICINE: by Pat McInally, Director of PacifiCare's GoodSports Program
Even with team doctors and full-time trainers and therapists working daily with professional athletes, the numbers of injuries seem staggering. How does an amateur or a young athlete have a chance to avoid injury?
The best answer comes in quality sports medicine – which involves much more than just treating injuries after they occur. The prevention of injuries, accurate original diagnosis, correct immediate treatment, well-managed rehabilitation and even improved performance, are all areas impacted by sports medicine.
Pop Warner and GoodSports want to help parents not only understand good sports medicine, but also know where young boys and girls playing sports can connect with quality sports medicine resources.
Community-wide networks can offer a full range of the area's finest, most-experienced resources -- local team physicians, physical therapists and trainers; the finest facilities and diagnostic equipment available; and even access to a whole library of information covering the latest advances in conditioning, performance, prevention of injuries, nutrition and other health issues.
All too often, parents simply aren't aware of these resources. Or when they need them.
The first step for parents is to understand that sports medicine requires specialized knowledge, training and experience. Handling sports injuries is a rapidly growing field, and we now have many physicians, trainers and physical therapists building specialized practices focusing on the needs of athletes and exercisers. Also, many doctors who have maintained their practices as orthopedic surgeons, podiatrists, pediatricians or internists have moved over to sports care as a second avenue of expression.
The biggest problem is that while the field is growing, most of its impact is still being limited to our elite athletes. The college, professional, Olympic and high school athletes represent only a small fraction of our total number of competitive recreational athletes, especially those in youth sports. Too many kids are being injured from lack of preventive guidance, poor diagnosis and inadequate treatment and rehabilitation when injuries do occur.
Dr. William Southmayd, a long-time consulting physician for the Boston Red Sox, and nationally recognized leader in pediatric orthopedics, offers these rules for seeing a doctor:
• ALL JOINT INJURIES. All injuries to a joint or its ligaments should be examined by a physician. If they are not treated quickly, these injuries have a potential for permanence.
• LOSS OF FUNCTION, when you cannot move a limb, an ankle or finger.
• PAIN IN JOINT OR BONE THAT PERSISTS FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS.
• ANY INJURY THAT DOESN'T HEAL IN THREE WEEKS. These should checked for a structural abnormality.
• ANY INFECTION, IN OR UNDER THE SKIN, MANIFESTED BY PUS, RED STREAKS, SWOLLEN LYMPH NODES, OR FEVER.
These are only guidelines, so use common sense. Any injury that causes severe pain is nature saying that something is wrong. When in doubt, consult a physician.
Find out who the local leaders in sports medicine are. These are most often those medical people dealing with the highest level of athletes in the area. They may be involved with a local professional, college or high school program. Even if their services prove to be difficult to obtain, these professionals can probably direct you to other experienced sports medicine resources.
Injury prevention takes many forms, including pre-participation requirements such as physical exams, understanding the fitness level necessary for an activity, having the correct preventive equipment such as braces or pads, and protecting against previous injuries or physical abnormalities discovered in a physical.
Many injuries can be minimized or progressive conditions avoided with immediate, accurate diagnosis and proper treatment. Far too many young athletes are injured severely by trying to push through pain instead of seeking and finding an accurate definition of their problem. A missed diagnosis is often the cause of much pain, lengthy recoveries, more damaging injuries and chronic conditions.
Rehabilitation is, perhaps, the most misunderstood element in sports medicine. The finest surgeon can perform the perfect procedure, but without an equally high level rehabilitation, the surgery could fail. As with treatment, experienced therapists, trainers, equipment and facilities are necessary for the safest return to action.
No one wants to be hurt and all athletes, including children want to get back to their activities as quickly as possible. Parents also want quality guidance to help them determine whether their child should continue after an injury, how soon to come back, what the real dangers are in playing or exercising through that injury and what long-term threat to his or her health, if any, is possible with continued participation.
These concerns can be best answered by experienced sports medicine people, professionals who have seen a multitude of situations similar to what your child is facing.
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