When we hear about sports medicine in Singapore, the first that comes to our minds are athletes. Those people who are into sports that often get broken bones and torn ligaments. However, sports medicine is not just limited to jocks. It is also for people who got injured due to physical activity.
What is Sports Medicine?
Sports medicine is more than just treating injuries. This branch of medicine also focuses on improving the physical capability of a person. It is useful for athletes who need to improve their performance.
However, sports medicine physicians shouldn’t be confused with physical therapists. Although they are both physical injury specialists, sports medicine physiciansare more focused on treating athletes and physically active individuals. Whereas, physical therapists are treating patients who have conditions that limit their physical activity.
Moreover, sports medicine are often different healthcare providers with each having a medical speciality. They can be internal medicine specialists, paediatricians, or orthopaedic surgeons. Among all the physicians mentioned, the orthopaedic surgeons are the most common sports medicine specialists because their careers focus on preventing and treating injuries. For them to be a sports medicine specialist, the physician should undergo two years of training right after passing the medical board exam.
What is the Importance of Sports Medicine?
- Provide Comprehensive Care for Injuries and Chronic Pain
Usually, sports medicine physicians will work with other healthcare professionals like physical therapists, athletic trainers, and nutritionists to provide you with comprehensive musculoskeletal injury treatment. In this way, you can recover fast. The treatment often involves non-invasive methods, thus it is an ideal treatment option for the elderly or anyone who is not suitable for surgical treatment.
Aside from treating injuries, they can also help you if you are suffering from chronic conditions such as osteoarthritis and tendonitis. Most of these conditions resulted from a repetitive strain jury, so they need to be addressed as soon as possible. This is because it is easier to treat if you get treated early. If not, then these chronic conditions might progress into serious health problems.
- Prevent Injuries
Sports medicine physicians are also called sports injury specialists. They will recommend you to undergo a physical conditioning programme for you to prevent getting injured in the future. You can benefit from it, especially if you are into sports. Having a strong body that doesn’t get injured easily can help you perform at your best.
- Improve Athletic Performance
Being an athlete requires you to always push yourself to the limits. As a result, you often get injured trying to finish your training. To prevent your body from having injuries, you need to strengthen it with the help of a sports medicine physician. They will assess your body condition and see what your strengths and weaknesses are. Doing this helps them determine what kind of training programme you should receive for you to improve your athletic performance. Most of the exercises included in their training programmes are work out routines that would help improve cardiovascular strength.
- Get Advanced Treatments
Even though sports injury specialists will mostly focus on non-surgical treatments, some of them can still perform surgeries for patients who need more comprehensive treatment. Some of these surgical treatments are:
- Platelet-rich plasma therapy
It is a type of regenerative medicine that helps your body heal the surrounding tissues of the injured area. This is how it works: the physician will take platelets from your blood and then, it will be injected on the injured body part. It can be your muscles, tendons or ligaments. This treatment option is based on the scientific evidence that your body can heal on its own.
- Stem cell therapy
One of the ways you can benefit from stem cell therapy if you are an athlete is when autologous stem cells help tissue repair. The concept is almost the same at platelet-rich therapy. These autologous stem cells are also harvested from your body.
What to Expect on Your First Appointment
Sometimes, we are adamant of visiting a doctor because the idea sounds frightening. You are not sure what to expect or what would happen. However, it is just like other normal medical check-ups. They will ask questions about your injury, medical history, and if there are any specific symptoms that you are currently experiencing. It is similar to a physical health screening exam, except that the physician will focus on your injury. So, expect them to ask about your workout routine and how you got hurt. Just make sure to describe them about what happened in detail. Also, be honest with the level of discomfort. Tell them if certain positions that make it difficult for you to move your body. In this way, they can come up with an ideal treatment plan for you. Just remember that when you receive a treatment, it won’t be a one time, big time thing. You would still have to go for follow-up treatments, so expect to visit the clinic multiple times.
Visit a Sports Medicine Specialist Now
You might be one of those people who resort to home remedies when you have an injury. All those remedies could help, it is still better to consult a healthcare professional about it to receive the right musculoskeletal injury treatment. If you are not sure where to find a sports medicine physician, then you may want to check out Thomson Wellth Medicine. It is a medical aesthetic clinic in Singapore that has health experts which specialises in sports medicine.
