What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine is a subspecialty area for orthopedic surgeons who provide treatments for common sports injuries as well as helping athletes to reduce their risk of injury with advice on training, physical therapy, and procedures to improve strength and flexibility.

Sports medicine is often delivered by a team, including your physician, athletic coaches, physical therapists, and others. At the Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, you benefit from a team of orthopedic experts who have decades of experience in not only diagnosing and treating sports injuries but also helping athletes to improve their performance.
Who benefits from sports medicine?

Sports medicine helps athletes of all abilities. The team at the Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine treats student-athletes as well as amateurs and professionals who participate in all sports from basketball, football, and soccer through tennis, gymnastics, and fun runs.

What can I expect from a sports medicine specialist?

When you work with a sports medicine specialist, you can expect expert medical care and advice that’s tailored to your specific needs.

If you have sustained an injury, your sports medicine team uses advanced diagnostic tools to identify the location and severity of your injury and provides a comprehensive treatment plan that may include immobilization, regenerative medicine treatments such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, and physical therapy that helps your body heal quickly and safely.

As you recover, you can expect physical therapy sessions to keep your muscles strong and supple so that when you’re able to return to your sport, you haven’t lost much strength, flexibility, or range of motion.

In addition to treating injuries, sports medicine specialists can help you improve your performance and reduce your risk of future injuries. Your physician can work with your coach and trainers to develop personalized training plans to help you build strength and flexibility in parts of your body that are at risk of injury, either from previous injuries, structural weakness or from the sport you choose to play.

For example, student-athletes have a unique risk in that their bodies are still growing and developing. If your young athlete overdoes it and suffers an injury, they may have long-term problems from impaired growth.

If you’re looking for a sports medicine expert in the Toms River area, call Garden State Medical Center to make an appointment today.