Sports medicine has moved beyond rest and rehabilitation. As players push their physical limitations, sports medicine has developed to provide better injury treatment and preventive techniques. For the most critical of injuries, today the focus is not just on treatment but also on quicker return and complete restoration of players’ abilities.
People engaged in high-impact sports and intense practice are more prone to injuries due to repetitive stress on the same joints. Some of the most common sports injuries include fractures, meniscal tears (a knee injury), rotator cuff tears (a shoulder injury), etc. We speak with Dr Manit Arora, Consultant Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Surgeon, Fortis Hospital, Mohali, to understand how the field of sports medicine has changed to make the treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of these and other conditions better.
Innovations in Treatment Minimally Invasive Surgeries These are surgical procedures with small incisions instead of the larger cuts in traditional surgery. This technique of operation has been revolutionary in medicine and is particularly favourable for sports injuries like meniscal tears. “If we look at the future of where knee arthroscopy is headed, there is a huge trend and shift now towards meniscus repair.
The meniscus is the shock absorber in the knee, and for many years, doctors have been cutting out the meniscus to alleviate pain in patients,” says Dr Arora. However, the future is one of meniscal preservation.