Patients recovering from sports injuries can save time and money by understanding the healthcare system and the different healthcare professionals and their areas of expertise.
According to the patient’s insurance policy, the patient’s ability to see a sports medicine professional will be determined in some ways by the health care delivery system. However, a basic understanding of each of the professionals can assist the patient in navigating the system to get the appropriate care needed to regain competitiveness.
Based on the type of medical insurance you have, you may be limited in what medical professional options you are able to use. You must see your primary care physician if you have a health maintenance organization (HMO) as your primary insurance unless the injury is life-threatening (a referral to the hospital). A primary care physician determines if a patient needs to be referred to a specialist under this type of insurance plan.
For many patients, this level of treatment and care is sufficient to return them to normal daily activities after a minor or moderate sports injury is diagnosed and treated by a primary care physician. It is possible for athletes with injuries to require additional care in order to recover to their former levels of performance.
Patients are able to request recommendations from sports medicine professionals even if their primary care physician does not initially recommend them. Unfortunately, in HMO systems, the primary care physician is the “gatekeeper.”
Patients who have preferred provider organization (PPO) insurance have more immediate access to health care professionals since they are able to make appointments directly with health care professionals instead of having to visit their family doctor. As a result, athletic sports injuries tend to be treated more quickly.
If you do not want to be sidelined with a sports injury, you should know what kind of professionals to see and when to see them, regardless of the type of insurance you have.
Is It Better To See A Doctor Or A Dentist?
Getting a medical degree can be done in two ways. One is by attending a traditional medical school and graduating with a Doctor of Medicine or MD. The other is by going to a medical school offering a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine or a D.O. Both schools offer nearly identical curricula, and most states recognize them both as equivalent.
However, the D.O. further studies hands-on manipulation and musculoskeletal systems in addition to their medical degree. Osteopathic manipulations are not used by all doctors (like chiropractic manipulations), but many include them as part of a holistic medical approach (mind-body-spirit).
D.O.s emphasizes treating the whole person rather than concentrating on one part or system of the body. While both degrees are licensed to practice medicine, perform surgeries, and prescribe medications, the D.O. focuses on treating the whole person rather than focusing on certain parts or systems.
A Family Doctor Or Primary Care Provider
Physicians who specialize in general medicine are called primary care providers. They are also trained in diagnosing and treating orthopedic injuries. The athlete may be able to receive appropriate initial and follow-up care from a primary care physician for injuries such as mild sprains, strains, contusions, and overuse injuries.
Doctor of Sports Medicine who provides primary care
In primary care sports medicine, doctors are physicians who have received general medical training before pursuing additional training in sports medicine and completing it. In addition to their general medical training, these physicians complete additional sports medicine fellowships. To gain more expertise in diagnosing and treating sports injuries, physicians typically shadow orthopedic surgeons for one to two years during their fellowships.
Once a physician has completed his/her sports medicine fellowship, he/she can take a sports medicine examination that results in a “Certificate of Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine” as of 1999. This specialty is currently certified by two organizations. The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) have both been certified for decades.
Injuries requiring mild, moderate, and severe sports medicine treatment without surgery are diagnosed and treated by physicians with this additional credential. The physician will refer his/her patients to an orthopedic surgeon if surgery is necessary.
A Surgeon Specializing In Orthopedics
It is a physician’s job to diagnose, treat, and surgically repair musculoskeletal injuries as part of his or her orthopedic surgery residency, which combines general medicine training with orthopedic surgery residency. Additional training and expertise in surgical techniques for sports injuries can be obtained by a physician through a surgical sports medicine fellowship (one to two years).
Additional surgical training may be pursued by the surgeon in specific joints (such as the shoulder, knee, hand, or back), if the surgeon so desires. Visiting an orthopedic specialist’s office today isn’t unusual, since each orthopedic surgeon specializes in a particular part of the body. A patient will be directed to an orthopedic surgeon when this is the case.
A surgeon’s specialty is treating conditions that can be improved surgically. It is important to consult a sports medicine specialist only if the athlete hasn’t seen improvement after his/her primary physician has treated the injury or if the injury is one that can only be repaired by surgery. Despite the fact that these physicians are capable of diagnosing all sports medicine injuries, it is wise to seek their advice only if the athlete cannot recover without surgery.
Orthopedic surgery is commonly used to correct the following athletic injuries:
• Meniscus tears on either side of the joint
• Collagen damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
• Internal fixation of fractures that have been displaced
• Dislocations can cause complications
• Repeated dislocations and subluxations (unidirectional joint laxity)
• Tears of muscles and/or tendons in their entirety
Although orthopedic surgeons specialize in repairing soft tissues and bones, physical therapists are more qualified to safely return athletes to the field, court, or floor following surgery or when they need to improve their range of motion, strength, power, or functional skills.
Physiotherapist
In the field of physical therapy, a wide variety of professionals are employed, including physical therapy assistants, registered physical therapists with master’s degrees, and registered physical therapists with doctoral degrees. As a physical therapist, you must have earned a doctoral degree to achieve your professional goals.
They specialize in restorative rehabilitation and have had several years of clinical training, working with a variety of patient populations and in different settings. Physical therapists can specialize in geriatric, post-surgical, and sports medicine populations, just like orthopedic surgeons can specialize in specific joints. Physical therapists who specialize in rehabilitating athletes should be sought out by those recovering from sports injuries.
Although all physical therapists are educated to restore an individual’s ability to perform daily activities, not all of them have the expertise and skills necessary to return athletes to full competition after developing and restoring explosive power and functional ability. An athlete needs additional sports performance knowledge and a thorough understanding of movement skills for different sports before returning to sports competitions.
It depends on the severity and type of the injury whether the athlete seeks out an appointment with a physical therapist immediately afterward. Physical therapists tend to be exceptionally adept at diagnosing musculoskeletal injuries using good old-fashioned hands-on diagnostic techniques, even though they don’t currently have access to specific high-cost diagnostic tools (such as x-rays, and MRIs). Sports injuries can be diagnosed and fully rehabilitated by a skilled physical therapist.
When seeking a quality physical therapist in sports medicine, athletes should look for a professional who uses primarily hands-on therapeutic techniques rather than modalities and machines. Although modalities and machines do have their place in rehabilitation, as the athlete regains range of motion and strength, the therapy should include more functional training than modalities.
In addition to good therapeutic techniques, it is important to use hands-on techniques to mobilize soft tissues as appropriate. Different types of soft tissue massage, such as effleurage, petrissage, and friction massage, as well as myofascial release and deep tissue manipulation, might be included in these techniques. In order to prevent scarring from nearby surrounding structures in a returning athlete, soft tissue mobilization is essential. An athlete’s range of motion depends on keeping their tissues mobile.
It may be necessary to use physical therapy to return an athlete back to pre-injury levels if an athlete has been sidelined for several weeks or if the injury does not appear to be healing on its own. Although physical therapists are known as rehabilitation specialists, another allied health professional can also provide quality physical therapy to an injured athlete.
Sports Trainer With A Certification
It is the responsibility of certified athletic trainers (ATCs) to prevent, diagnose, treat, and rehabrain sports injuries. In addition to holding bachelor’s degrees in athletic training or related fields, many of these professionals hold advanced master’s and doctoral degrees.
When an injury occurs in a high school, college, university, or professional sport, a certified athletic trainer is typically on the sidelines (high school, college, university, or professional sports), and can provide an immediate diagnosis to the athlete. Those professionals are trained in triaging injuries and are aware of when to refer athletes to a physician for further treatment. In addition to prescribing and administering solid rehabilitation protocols, the certified athletic trainer is also trained in rehabilitation skills.
As a result of their specific expertise in working with student-athletes, these professionals are typically hired by athletic departments in high schools and/or colleges and universities. Therefore, student-athletes are not charged for medical evaluations and treatments. In many colleges and high schools, the number of ATCs for student-athletes is inadequate, so they face a challenge since their numbers are inadequate. The result is less time for long-term rehabilitation programs and more triage for medical care.
If an athletic trainer is available to the athlete, it is a good first step to schedule an appointment with him/her because the trainer will diagnose the injury and refer the athlete to other professionals for more comprehensive diagnostic tests (e.g., a cardiologist, neurologist, orthopedic surgeon) if the ATC determines that this is necessary.
Doctor Of Cardiology
A cardiologist is an increasingly common specialist that works with young athletes since hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has received recent media attention. The diagnosis and treatment of heart disorders and conditions are the areas of expertise of a cardiologist.
An initial heart condition can be diagnosed by a physician, but advanced diagnostic tests may not be performed by them. If an athlete presents with symptoms associated with a heart condition or has a family history of heart attacks before 50, he/she may be referred to a cardiologist. The athlete should not be permitted to participate in any sports activities until a physician has cleared them for that purpose.
Neurosurgeon
A physician who specializes in neurology is also becoming a more mainstream specialist in sports medicine as concussions in athletes are becoming more widely recognized, managed, and treated. Multiple concussion studies continue to link athletes with permanent long-term brain damage, so physicians specializing in concussion treatment are needed to treat and clear athletes who have sustained multiple concussions.
Before returning to sports, athletes with concussion histories should see a neurologist. In order to ensure athletes do not return to sports too quickly after concussions, neurologists will continue to be used more frequently in sports medicine as knowledge of the repercussions of competing with concussions increases. The neurology community may even recommend terminating all sports participation.
Doctor Of Podiatry
It is the specialty of podiatrists to diagnose, treat, and surgically repair foot injuries. A podiatric medicine doctor (DPM) is a person who has completed undergraduate studies and graduated from a podiatric medicine college. In addition to treating calluses, ingrown toenails, bunions, arch problems, and other ankle and foot injuries, these specialists can diagnose and treat a variety of conditions related to feet, ankles, and lower legs.
It is not uncommon for athletes to suffer injuries higher up in their legs, including overuse injuries to the knee and hip because of foot problems. Those injuries can be prevented by podiatrists who prescribe custom orthotics to correct arch problems, over-pronation (walking on the medial border), or supination (walking on the outside border).
Chiropractic Doctor
Spinal manipulations are used to heal injuries by chiropractors ranging from those who rely solely on them to those who combine spinal manipulations with other therapeutic techniques. A soft tissue injury may not be healed by spinal manipulations alone, although they may provide temporary relief of pain.
It has been proposed that spinal manipulations can reduce the pain caused by nerve impingement. Despite the possibility that nerve pathology may be the cause of some sports injury pain, it may not necessarily be the only cause. The manipulation relieves the nerve impingement, thereby relieving the pain.
The athlete may also feel better temporarily following spinal manipulation, but the pain may return over time if additional exercises are not performed to fix muscle imbalances and stretch tight tissues as well. This is why chiropractors who specialize in sports injuries combine chiropractic manipulation with traditional therapeutic exercises in order to help athletes return to their sports.
The athlete should be referred to other health professionals for further diagnosis and treatment if their injury does not improve or worsens after a specified period of chiropractic care.
A Masseuse
Individuals who work as massage therapists complete a short-term training program through trade schools or independent programs. There is no degree requirement, only certification.
Massage professionals are trained in many techniques, including relaxation massage and sports massage, both of which can help athletes relax tight muscles (relaxation massage) or loosen tight tissue (sports massage). Although they can both be beneficial for athletes when used in conjunction with traditional therapy, these professionals are not trained in detecting, diagnosing, or treating sports injuries.
Your ability to move and use the injured area will improve if the treatment is effective, regardless of who you choose to see. A second professional may be able to help you if the treatment doesn’t produce positive results or you are unhappy with your diagnosis or treatment plan.
It is not an exact science to practice medicine. However, sports medicine professionals have the expertise and experience to get you back to moving freely and pain-free.
You can contact our office at 949-588-8833, or visit our website at https://www.ocfootdoctor.com. Our offices are in Laguna Hills, Irvine, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch, and Costa Mesa.
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