Our Services / Sports Medicine 

What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine is a specialty encompassing the diagnosis, repair, rehabilitation, and prevention of injuries relating to sports. Most sports medicine doctors are general orthopedics specialists, non-surgical orthopedics specialists, or orthopedic surgeons. MIG has physicians with extensive sports medicine experience across all orthopedic specialties. 

What types of injuries do sports medicine doctors treat?

Your MIG sports medicine specialist can treat all types of sports injuries, including:

• Fractures

• Muscle strains - hamstring, triceps, and other muscle strains

• Joint dislocations - kneecap, shoulder, or other joint dislocation

• Joint instability - ankle, knee, shoulder, or other joint instability

• Labral tears in the shoulder or hip 

• Tendinitis - tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, Achilles tendinitis, biceps tendinitis, and others

• Tendon ruptures

• Ligament tears - anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and others

• Meniscus tears

• Rotator cuff injuries

• Bursitis - trochanteric (hip), subacromial (shoulder), and others

• Shoulder labrum tears - superior labrum anterior to posterior (SLAP)

There are many other sports injuries. If you experience any kind of sports injury, a MIG sports medicine specialist can help.

What causes sports injuries?

Sports injuries can occur in many ways, but a few of the most common causes are direct blows, impact after a jump or fall, and overuse. 

Other factors that aren’t necessarily direct causes can make you more vulnerable to a sports injury, for example, lack of protective equipment, failing to warm up, and improper form. 

How are sports injuries treated? 

Sports injury treatment can vary with the injury type and how severe the injury is. Your MIG specialist typically prescribes non-surgical care in the beginning. 

That may include options like physical therapy, bracing or splinting, activity changes, and medication. 

If your sports injury causes intense pain that doesn't improve with conservative treatments — or if your pain holds you back from rehabilitative exercises — corticosteroid and anesthetic injections may be a good option. 

With the right treatment approach, some kinds of sports injuries, like minor ligament tears, can heal in time. But, some severe injuries such as a complete ACL tear or a deep meniscus tear may require surgery. Most sports injury surgeries are minimally invasive, with incisions as little as a few millimeters long and much faster recovery times than open (long-incision) surgery. 

Your age, activity level before the injury, and other individual factors can influence your sports injury treatment path, too. 

For example, an older person who wants to resume light activity may take a completely different approach than a professional athlete who's anxious to return to their sport as soon as possible. 

Regardless of your chosen treatment, sports medicine teaches you injury prevention strategies and, in rehab, you build strength and flexibility, which gives you the best protection against reinjury. 

Contact a Midsouth Independent Group sports medicine specialist today.