The field of sports medicine involves the prevention and management of injuries commonly arising as a result of sports activities. People engaging in sports can be put into four different age groups, children and adolescents; the very active youth and young adult, the middle-aged weekend warrior and the elderly. Sports injuries within these four groups tend to be fairly similar.

Common problems encountered in sports include traumatic injuries, repetitive stress injuries and degenerative problems.

Traumatic injuries include fractures of bones, tears of ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Repetitive stress injuries more commonly affects ligaments and tendons and less often can affect bones. Degenerative are wear and tear problems that usually affect the lubricating surfaces of joints such as cartilage, as well as the tendons that move the joints.

The management of the majority of sports injuries is non-surgical and includes anti-inflammatory medicines as well as the modification or cessation of the sport activity. A review of the sports activity and focused sports-specific therapy can prevent injuries in the first place, and minimize the risk of re-occurrence if sports injuries have already occurred. For the runner this would include things such as the evaluation of running shoes, running technique and cross training such as targeted resistance training. For the golfer this may include an evaluation of his golf stance, grip and swing, as well as targeted strengthening of appropriate muscle groups.

Sometimes surgery is required especially where there is major structural damage to bone, cartilage or ligament. With advances in technology most operations for sports injuries today are done through minimally invasive keyhole operations. This includes operations for knee ligament (ACL) reconstruction, knee meniscus tears and shoulder ligament tears. Most of these surgeries are done as outpatient procedures. Surgery is almost always followed by a period of post-surgical therapy which usually lasts 6 to 12 weeks.

In the last decade the advent of cartilage processing technology has enabled surgeons to harvest, grow and replace an athlete’s worn out cartilage. This has the potential to almost fully restore worn out cartilage in knee, ankle, hip and shoulder joints.

In the slightly older athlete, degenerative problems may necessitate more radical procedures such as partial joint replacements of the knee.

In the overall scheme of things, prevention is always better than cure. And early treatment is always better than late treatment. A sports physician can help evaluate if an asymptomatic athlete requires any modification of technique, training or equipment; the same physician should also be consulted early whenever an athlete develops an injury.