Where Can I Find the Best Sports Injury Doctor Near Me?

Where Can I Find the Best Sports Injury Doctor Near Me?

Whether you are a dedicated athlete or simply enjoy sports in your spare time, the possibility of sustaining an injury is always present due to the physical stress and contact of many types of sports. 

From a sprained ankle to a broken arm, sports injuries range in severity, and all of them can lead to lasting symptoms if not properly addressed. This is why having a quality sports injury doctor close to your home is so important.

A sports injury doctor is any physician who works with injuries sustained from athletic activity. 

Fractures, breaks, sprains, torn ligaments, and dislocations are all common types of injuries that can occur from playing sports or exercising. A top-quality sports injury doctor can diagnose the type of injury you have and design a customized treatment plan that gets you on the path to healing. 

Who Is Considered a Sports Injury Doctor?

Something many people don’t realize is that many different types of doctors can treat an athletic injury. The following are just a few specialists who can address sports-related injuries.

General Practitioner 

While your family doctor may not technically be considered to be a sports injury doctor, they are a necessary step in the healing process. Your general physician can provide an initial assessment of your injury and determine what type of specialist will provide the most fitting treatment.

Physical Therapists

One of the most effective ways to address an athletic injury is through physical therapy. Physical therapists use non-invasive, non-surgical methods to strengthen your bones and muscles, helping you make a full recovery from many different types of injuries. 

A physical therapist is ideal for sprains, dislocations, and healing after a broken bone. Your physical therapist will guide you through personalized stretches and exercises that aim to restore your proper muscle strength and tissue alignment. 

Many people see a physical therapist for an extended period at regular intervals, such as one to two times a week for six months. Your duration of treatment will depend on the severity of your injury.

Orthopedists

Another specialist who frequently addresses sports injuries is an orthopedist. They work with conditions of the bones and muscles.  These doctors can perform a wide variety of diagnostics to determine the source of your symptoms and develop a thorough treatment plan. Orthopedists treat almost any area of the body, but they often work with the arms and legs.

For severe breaks, you may need to see an orthopedic surgeon. These surgical specialists can provide the proper treatment to help your bone heal correctly after an athletic injury.

Podiatrists

If you injure your foot, toe, or ankle during athletic activity, you may need to see a podiatrist. They work specifically with conditions of the feet. These doctors can address broken toes, ankle sprains, and damaged tissues within the foot. 

A podiatrist can also provide custom footwear, such as ankle bracing or shoe inserts, to help heal certain injuries.

Chiropractors

When you are looking for non-surgical intervention for certain types of sports injuries, you may want to see a chiropractor. Chiropractors provide manual adjustment of the bones in your arms, legs, and spinal column. They are a popular choice for spinal misalignment and dislocations.

Something important to consider when working with a chiropractor is the nature of your injury and the method of adjustment. Sometimes chiropractic treatment can do more harm than good. This harm happens when an adjustment is performed incorrectly or in the wrong spot, leading to exacerbated pain and discomfort. 

You should be especially careful when treating neck injuries, as this can lead to nerve damage in the cervical spine.

Holistic Specialists

One type of specialist that may be overlooked when searching for sports injury treatment is a holistic medicine doctor. Holistic doctors specialize in natural approaches to a wide variety of health concerns, from chronic conditions to acute illnesses. 

A holistic medicine specialist can use natural methods to address your athletic injuries without prescription medications or surgical intervention.

What to Consider When Choosing a Sports Injury Doctor

If you’re looking for a doctor to treat your athletic injuries, you will need to consider several factors in order to choose the best provider for your needs. These factors include everything from experience to location. 

Relevant Experience

When looking for a doctor for your athletic injury, you will want to choose someone who has relevant experience. Your doctor should be qualified to treat the type of injury you have. 

For example, a podiatrist only treats conditions of the foot, ankle, or toes. If you have an injury higher on the leg, such as a torn calf muscle or knee dislocation, an orthopedist is a better choice.

Services Offered

Another thing to consider when choosing a sports injury doctor is the services they can provide. Do they offer surgical procedures? Are their services strictly non-invasive? Do they use natural, holistic methods? 

Your injury may require specific treatment to heal properly. You need to choose a doctor who can provide the best treatment possible to address your injury.

Office Location

One of the most important factors to consider when looking for a sports injury doctor is their location. You want to choose a doctor whose office is in your general area so that you don’t need to commute far for treatment. 

Athletic injuries often require a series of multiple visits spread out over time. Having a doctor in your area will make your recovery process much more convenient.

Treating Sports Injuries

Are you looking for a top-quality sports medicine doctor near you? There are various ways to treat sports injuries, from physical therapy to chiropractic adjustments. Finding the right sports injury doctor can make the difference between chronic pain and proper healing. 

Additionally, some people want more natural treatments for their sports injuries, including stem cell therapy or PRP injections

If you injure yourself playing sports or exercising, speak with your general practitioner or other provider about what type of specialist is the best choice to meet your needs.

Alternative Interventions for Common Sports-Related Injuries

Alternative Interventions for Common Sports-Related Injuries

Participation in recreational athletics is a great way to get moving and stay in good physical condition. However, injuries can sometimes occur. You may have even experienced an injury yourself. Traditionally, physicians rely on the time-tested RICE method for treating common sports injuries. RICE or rest, ice, compression, and elevation are designed to alleviate inflammation and avoid aggravating the injury. When paired with an over-the-counter oral anti-inflammatory, you can achieve a fair amount of relief for most mild conditions. However, there are some alternatives available that might expedite your healing process so that you can get back to your favorite activities faster. Below, we have outlined five such treatments for common sports-related injuries.

1.   Chiropractic Care for Tennis Elbow

Tennis elbow is an extremely common sports-related injury that affects the elbow joint. When suffering from this condition, you may experience reduced grip strength, tenderness, and reduced range of motion. 

While visiting a chiropractor may not be the first thought that crosses your mind when suffering from Tennis elbow, these providers often offer several therapies in addition to traditional spinal adjustments. These treatments may include electrical stimulation of the muscle, ultrasound therapy, and site-specific massages. 

2.   Yoga for Hip Strains

Hip strains are another one of the extremely common sports-related injuries. If you have ever suffered a hip strain, you know that this ailment can sideline you for weeks. 

Yoga therapy is a good way of working on your flexibility while also alleviating muscle tightness. A few weeks of yoga guided by an experienced practitioner may help you bounce back faster from a hip strain. 

3.   Cupping for Muscle Soreness

Cupping is an age-old therapy that might help alleviate muscle soreness and tightness. During the treatment, a cotton ball is set ablaze inside a silicone or glass cup. The therapist will remove the cotton ball and then place the cup face down on your skin. The heat causes the cup to adhere to the surface of the skin. 

Each cup is left in place for a few minutes. The cups will produce a circular bruising pattern, which is a normal part of the treatment. 

4.   Acupuncture for Calf Strains

Acupuncture or dry needling is frequently used to treat calf strains. During the treatment, the acupuncturist will insert thin needles into specific trigger points surrounding the affected muscle. This is supposed to stimulate the body’s natural healing capabilities. 

5.   Stem Cell Therapy for Rotator Cuff Injuries

Rotator cuff injuries are particularly concerning for athletes as this ailment typically requires surgical intervention or a lengthy physical therapy regimen. Fortunately, stem cell therapy has the potential to treat rotator cuff injuries. Stem cell therapy is a far less invasive option than surgery, and this treatment can stimulate the body’s natural healing capabilities. Stem cells also combat inflammation and repair damaged tissues. Patients may be able to delay the need for surgery or avoid it altogether and in some cases, can be a helpful in the recovery process. Contact us today and speak with a care coordinator to schedule a free assessment.

How to Remove a Tense Shoulder Knot That Won’t Go Away

How to Remove a Tense Shoulder Knot That Won’t Go Away

Your muscles contract and relax throughout the day. These natural muscle movements assist in musculoskeletal control, but what happens when there’s too much tension in your muscles? Extreme muscle contractions can lead to neck and shoulder pain, especially if you’re under a lot of stress. If you can feel a hard, inflamed spot in your shoulders, you may be dealing with a painful shoulder knot. Here’s what you can do to relieve that bothersome muscle tension. 

Relieve Your Shoulder Knot with a Deep Tissue Massage 

Massage therapists are trained in releasing tight muscle knots. If you’re dealing with a persistent shoulder knot, consider getting a deep tissue massage. It can be difficult to reach your shoulders by yourself at the depths you need, so going to a licensed massage therapist is best. 

Deep tissue massages relax the deepest layers of your muscles. They may feel uncomfortable in the moment, but afterward, you’ll experience intense muscle relaxation. 

Self-Massage Techniques 

If you can’t get to a massage therapist, use a hard ball (like a baseball) to work the tension out of your shoulders. You can do this by placing the ball between your shoulders and a wall and pressing into the ball with your body weight. 

Alternatively, you can use a vibrating massage tool to work the tension out of your shoulders. Ask a friend or partner for help if you can’t reach the knot with the instrument. 

Alternate Hot and Cold to Reduce Inflammation

Tense shoulder knots are usually inflamed, which leads to redness and soreness in the area. To relieve inflammation, alternate between hot and cold exposure. Use a heating pad for 10 to 20 minutes, then replace it with an ice pack for the same amount of time. 

Alternating between heat and cold reduces swelling in your body. When you apply heat, your muscles relax, and blood flows to the area. After you apply a cold compress, your blood vessels constrict, which helps relieve painful inflammation in your shoulders. 

You may find that this releases the shoulder knot on its own. However, most people must try other therapies to fully get rid of tense muscle knots. 

Reduce Stress and Clear Your Mind

It might sound counterproductive to focus on your mental health while you’re experiencing physical pain. However, shoulder knots often form because of stress. If you carry psychological stress in your neck and shoulders, your muscles are more likely to tense up and create knots. 

Try different stress relief techniques to reduce tension and allow your muscles to fully relax. You can try a hot bath, journaling, meditation, and yoga. 

Stretch Your Shoulders and Neck

As you’re doing yoga to try to relax, opt for some deep neck and shoulder stretches. Always pay attention to your comfort levels as you do this. Stretches shouldn’t hurt, although you may experience mild soreness from the shoulder knot. 

Use a yoga block if you need extra support, relax your muscles, and allow the stretches to gently pull your shoulder muscles out of the painful knot. 

Trigger Point Therapy

Your body has specific spots that carry muscle tension and tightness. These are called trigger points. Pressing on trigger points may relax the muscles that are creating your shoulder knot. You can visit an acupuncturist or press your trigger points yourself. 

Everyone’s body is different, but there are some widely recognized trigger points along your back and neck. Pressing these may relax your shoulder muscles and get rid of the inflamed knot. 

The back of your neck and several spots along your spine contain trigger points. Experiment with safe amounts of pressure to see which ones feel relaxing to your shoulder muscles. You may need a friend or partner to help you press these trigger points. 

Another way to put pressure on trigger points is to use an acupressure mat. These mats contain small plastic spikes that press into your muscles and relieve tension over time. Laying on an acupressure mat can produce similar benefits to acupuncture and trigger point therapy. 

Medication: Over-the-Counter Pain Relievers 

If you’ve tried everything and your shoulder knot is still causing you pain, you can try over-the-counter medication. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are affordable and work to reduce inflammation throughout your body. With less inflammation in your shoulders, you could experience blissful pain relief. 

The downside to this method is that the pain relief is temporary. Once the over-the-counter medication wears off, you’ll have to take another dose to experience relief. Medication can help for short periods, but it’s best to address the underlying cause of your muscle knots to get rid of them for good. 

Reduce Inflammation and Muscular Pain With Stem Cell Treatments 

Sports injuries, orthopedic problems, and musculoskeletal conditions can all lead to muscle knots and pain. Stem cell therapy assists in reducing inflammation and relieving discomfort so you can experience a better quality of life. 

Stem cells can form into almost any type of specialized body cell. This adaptability means they play a key role in regenerating damaged tissues, which can help people with sports injuries and other muscular problems. 

If you experience chronic inflammation and pain, stem cell therapy offers a drug-free alternative for you to try. These treatments often use your own stem cells, so there’s minimal risk of adverse side effects. Alternatively, you may use donor stem cells. 

Prevent and Treat Shoulder Knots and Muscle Tension

Your muscles can form knots for many different reasons. What’s important is addressing the root causes of your chronic inflammation and muscle pain. 

No matter what path you choose, it’s important to reduce mental stress and keep your body healthy. Gentle physical activity can improve your mobility and reduce your chances of developing muscle knots in the future.

If at-home techniques and treatments aren’t working, you may need a more advanced solution, like regenerative medicine. Consider what works best for you and work toward a pain-free life. 

Treatments for Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Treatments for Osteoarthritis of the Knee

The National Library of Medicine states that 10% of people over 55 in the United States have disabling knee osteoarthritis. If you are one of these people, finding the right treatment can be challenging, especially if you don’t want to become dependent on pain medications or go through an invasive knee surgery.

For some, surgery can be the only option, but for many others, some management strategies and less invasive options could offer relief from symptoms. 

What Is Knee Osteoarthritis? Understanding the Symptoms and Causes

Osteoarthritis of the knee occurs when the cartilage in your knee joint starts to break down. This causes the bones to rub together, leading to stiffness, swelling, and pain that can interfere with your life. 

Women are more likely to develop knee osteoarthritis, as are people over the age of 40, but genetics and other factors can cause it in younger people. 

Pain is the most common symptom of this condition, but there are other signs, including:

  • A puffy or swollen knee
  • Hearing a grinding or cracking noise when you move
  • Knee stiffness
  • Knee that locks up or feels stuck
  • Knee that feels wobbly

There can be many causes of knee osteoarthritis. Having a body mass index of 30 or more puts pressure on your knees and can cause inflammation. This inflammation can lead to arthritis or make existing arthritis worse. 

You can also develop this condition if you suffer a knee injury or have a prior knee injury. If you have close relatives who’ve had knee osteoarthritis, you’re also more likely to struggle with this problem.

If you frequently put stress on your knees, whether by playing sports or as a result of your job, you can also develop osteoarthritis in your knee. 

Treating Knee Osteoarthritis 

If you have signs of osteoarthritis, there are a number of treatment options you can talk to your doctor about.

Maintaining a Healthy Weight 

If you have risk factors that can increase your chances of developing knee osteoarthritis or if you already have the condition, ensuring your weight is healthy is vital. The Arthritis Foundation states that being just 10 pounds overweight can put 15 to 50 pounds of extra weight on your knees. That makes the development of osteoarthritis more likely. 

Losing weight allows you to reduce some of that strain on your knee joints. Aside from that, losing weight also helps reduce inflammation throughout the body, which can help with arthritis. 

Getting Regular Exercise

Those who have knee osteoarthritis can also benefit from getting regular exercise. It can help you lose weight, increase your mobility, and build up muscle strength to support your knee joints. 

It is important to choose low-impact aerobics options that are suitable for your health level. These can include:

  • Swimming
  • Cycling 
  • Yoga
  • Stretching
  • Walking

Riding a stationary bike can be very helpful for maintaining strength in the hamstring muscle groups without putting extra pressure on your knee. It’s best to have a doctor or physical therapist at your side to help you put together an exercise plan.

Using Medications for Pain and Swelling Relief

For people who are dealing with a lot of pain and swelling, one option is to turn to medications. Over-the-counter painkillers are one option, and many of them offer anti-inflammatory properties that help with the swelling that might be impeding you from moving freely. 

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, as well as acetaminophen for those who can’t take NSAIDs, can be helpful for osteoarthritis pain. 

If these aren’t effective, there are prescription options your doctor could recommend. These may include opioids and even injectable steroids for people with severe inflammation. 

Prescription medications can cause side effects. Because they don’t actually do anything to heal your body and only help you manage the symptoms of knee osteoarthritis, the moment you stop taking them, the pain and inflammation will usually return. 

Turning to Regenerative Medicine

One promising option for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis is regenerative medicine. It is a field of medicine that strives to harness the body’s natural healing powers to make them work in the areas where you need them most. There are a number of treatments, including platelet-rich plasma therapy and stem cell therapy

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy uses the platelets in your blood, which have clotting abilities and can stimulate many healing processes. 

By separating the platelets from the other components in your blood, like white blood cells, red blood cells, and more, and concentrating them in the liquid portion of your blood, you can give the treatment area a boost of growth factors. These growth factors encourage the healing process.

Stem cell therapy uses stem cells gathered from your fat or bone marrow to stimulate the regeneration of damaged tissue. Stem cells have endless regenerative powers, and they’re able to transform into the exact type of cells you need.

Regenerative medicine offers the chance to decrease inflammation in the area, allowing blood to flow more freely and bring with it oxygen and nutrients. Less inflammation can also mean less pain because you aren’t putting as much pressure on nearby nerves. 

Another benefit of regenerative medicine is that it is minimally invasive, so you don’t have to worry about a long recovery period. Most people are good candidates for this type of procedure as well. 

Choosing Surgery

In severe cases, surgery may be the only way to treat knee osteoarthritis. You can get arthroscopic surgery, which is less invasive because it uses an arthroscope. This is a small camera that guides the surgeon in repairing the damaged area. 

A total knee replacement can be another option. It can be done as minimally invasive or open surgery, depending on your overall health. 

Stem cell therapy can still apply as a post-surgery option to help speed up recovery and manage inflammation and pain during the healing process.

Getting Relief from Knee Osteoarthritis Symptoms 

If you are struggling with knee osteoarthritis, getting relief from the inflammation and pain can mean considering all available treatment options. By turning to your doctor, you can make sure you have the best chance of achieving the help you deserve. 

Who Should Get Stem Cell Treatments

Who Should Get Stem Cell Treatments

Regenerative medicine options like stem cell treatments are growing in popularity both because of their potential effectiveness and because they can help you avoid invasive procedures like surgeries. Stem cell therapies focus on helping your body improve what it already does naturally — heal injuries.

Stem cells are the cells from which all differentiated cells form. They can come from your bone marrow or fat, with some people also turning to umbilical cord stem cells for treatment. But how do you know if you could benefit from stem cell therapy? 

Those With Sports Injuries

If you play sports, you know that injuries can occur at any moment. You can twist your body in an unnatural way or suffer an impact that damages joints or ligaments. Minor injuries usually benefit from ice packs and rest, but healing can take time. 

Healing is also a delicate process that can be disrupted. If that occurs, the injury might not heal completely and could lead to chronic issues that impact your mobility and even cause lasting pain. 

When you turn to stem cell therapies, you can speed up the healing process. This type of regenerative medicine helps reduce inflammation, making it easier for nutrients and oxygen to get to the site of the injury.

Increased oxygen and nutrients are particularly important when dealing with ligaments and cartilage, which naturally don’t receive much blood flow. 

Those With Arthritis

Arthritis is a debilitating condition in which your joints’ cartilage starts to deteriorate. The cartilage is what cushions your joints, preventing the bones from rubbing against one another. Once the cartilage breaks down, you can experience pain, stiffness, and mobility issues. In some cases, it can even cause joint deformity. 

Stem cells, especially mesenchymal stem cells, release anti-inflammatory factors that help with pain and encourage your body to heal the damaged areas. Stem cells injected into the affected joint can reduce swelling, helping reduce pain and also restoring some mobility to stiff joints. 

One of the best things about stem cell therapies for arthritis is that this kind of treatment is minimally invasive.

Those With Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries may severely impact your quality of life. You may struggle to perform everyday tasks and could face mobility issues that leave you dependent on others. 

Spinal cord injuries are particularly difficult to treat because healing tends to plateau as a result of microenvironmental changes like inflammation, glial scar formation, and more. Stem cells can help because of their power to reduce inflammation, allowing the healing process to continue.  

Ongoing treatment with stem cells could offer an improvement in mobility and a reduction in pain levels.

Those With Traumatic Injuries

After a major injury, like one that results from a car accident, healing can seem impossible. You may experience significant pain and could be dealing with mobility concerns that require physical therapy and even surgery. 

Stem cell therapy works well in conjunction with physical therapy and other treatments because it utilizes cells from your body gathered in a minimally invasive way. You can continue other therapeutic programs while giving your body the chance to reduce inflammation so that blood can reach the injury site. 

A better level of blood flow to the area not only brings nutrients and oxygen but also helps flush out toxins at the injury site that could make the symptoms worse. 

Those Who’ve Gone Through Surgery

Going through surgery can put a lot of strain on your body. That is one of the reasons why the recovery process is often so long. If you’ve been through a surgical procedure, consider stem cell therapy. 

Stem cell therapy can help reduce the recovery time so that you can start feeling more like yourself again. Inflammation is a huge concern. Think of the kinds of bruising you may have after a surgical procedure. Although stem cell therapy can’t prevent all inflammation and bruising, its use after surgery can reduce how much you experience. 

If there’s less inflammation, the area can receive more nutrients and experience faster healing. 

Those Who Need Joint Replacements

Replacing a joint is a surgical procedure that requires the implantation of an artificial joint and the removal of the damaged one. The recovery process for this type of procedure tends to be difficult, with many people experiencing mobility issues even as they heal because the artificial part hasn’t really integrated into the rest of the tissue. 

If this type of surgery is something that you have to go through, adding stem cell therapy to the recovery process makes a difference. Stem cell therapies encourage the growth of new tissues around the artificial replacement that can make mobility easier and decrease pain, helping you get back to your life more rapidly. 

Those With Degenerative Diseases

Degenerative diseases are chronic conditions that progressively get worse. They include diseases like:

For these conditions, a combination of treatments is usually most effective. They can include medications, physical therapy, and even surgery. By also turning to stem cell therapy, you have the chance to tackle the underlying cause of the problem so that you can get relief from symptoms. 

Stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease, for example, focuses on helping restore the failing neurons that are in charge of producing dopamine. This could help with the management of dopamine levels and could even restore some function. In many instances, stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s can even slow down the disease. 

Is Stem Cell Therapy Right for You?

Stem cell therapy might be able to offer the help you need with managing degenerative conditions, healing injuries, and providing pain relief that doesn’t rely on narcotics. You don’t have to worry about suffering allergic reactions or rejections because stem cell therapies usually rely on cells from your body. 

If you’re considering stem cell treatments or want to know more about what the process involves and what you can expect, talk with a regenerative medicine specialist about the options available. 

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