06 Aug 2024If you look at the three most common sports-related injuries in adults 25 or older, occur in the following sports: bicycling, basketball, and baseball/softball. In youth sports, football, basketball, and soccer are at the top of the list.
Many factors play a role in sports injuries. You may not be using protective equipment correctly or at all. It could be a case of failing to warm up, having prior injuries, or training too intensively. Sometimes, it’s simply a case of repetitive use. Many injuries lead to sprains or strains, bruising, and muscle pain. What if they’re severe? Check out Premium Sport Orthopedics’ guide to when is surgical treatment the best option?
What Are the Most Common Sports Injuries?
The most common injuries differ between children, teens, and adults. For kids and teens, the common injuries include dislocations, sprains, and bone fractures. Generally, surgeries aren’t needed for these injuries, but torn ligaments might need surgical repair.
Concussions are also common, but most of those injuries require plenty of rest. If a head blow is severe, surgery to relieve the pressure on the brain may become necessary. That type of surgery isn’t something to delay.
Adults often experience sprains, fractures, head injuries, and dislocations, but several other common injuries have a higher risk the older you are. They include rotator cuff injuries, tennis elbow, tendinitis, and meniscus tears. Bone fractures, torn cartilage, ligaments, and tendons may require surgical repair in older adults.
When Is Surgery Best?
Ultimately, your doctor is the best guide to knowing if it’s time for surgery. You will discuss factors that increase the risk of surgery being the best option.
- A bone fracture isn’t healing properly.
- A bone fracture left bone fragments in the body.
- A bone is fractured in such a way that surgical repair is necessary to pin the bones together.
- A joint became unstable due to repetitive injuries.
- Pain is severe and nothing eases it.
- Some cartilage, a muscle, or a tendon ruptured or is completely torn.
- You’ve lost all or the majority of your range of motion of joint function.
Factors You and Your Doctor Should Discuss Before Scheduling Surgery
Surgeries have come a long way, but there’s always a risk. For that reason, you and your orthopedic specialist will carefully weigh the pros and cons. Sometimes, there is no other option, but you can reduce the risks of infection and improper healing by following your surgeon’s instructions for post-op recovery.
When you think you might want surgery, you need to consider a few things.
Age and Health
Your age and health play an important role in how well a surgery will go. If you’re older and have health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes, there may need to be careful considerations regarding anesthesia and the amount of time you go without food or water. With any surgery, you may need to avoid eating or drinking any fluids for a number of hours before surgery.
Injury Type and Severity
Where is the injury and how severe is it? Today’s surgeries often use tiny cameras and small surgical instruments, which means tiny incisions and shorter recovery times because they’re less invasive. If you can have keyhole surgery, it’s often going to have a shorter recovery time, but there’s still going to be a recovery and guidelines to follow.
If you need surgery for a torn rotator cuff, the recovery time averages four months, but it can take upwards of a year for severe tears. You need to consider the length of the recovery time and make sure there are no other options.
Lifestyle and Routines
Go back to the recovery time of a year for a severe tear of the rotator cuff. If you play sports as a hobby and work as a roofer the rest of the time, that’s a year you’d be unable to do your job. You need to make sure you have an honest conversation about your job with your doctor. You need to have surgery that repairs the damage, but it may never recover as well as you need it to for your job. You need to discuss the what-ifs.
Recovery Time
We’ve already touched on the recovery time, but you should discuss this. You might have a few options for the surgery with some offering shorter recovery times with a lower success rate vs. a higher success rate with a much longer recovery time. Discuss the pros and cons of each with your sports and orthopedic doctor.
Risks and Benefit
Finally, look at the pros and cons of surgical repair vs. using other options like stem cell treatments, PRP injections, physical therapy, and other alternative treatments. If there’s a chance that stem cell treatments could repair the damage while physical therapy helps restore range of motion and flexibility, you might want to try that before agreeing to surgery.
What Happens During the Most Common Surgeries for Sports Injuries?
There are open surgeries where the skin is cut open, pulled back, and a repair is made. There are also minimally invasive or keyhole surgeries where fiber optic cameras and small surgical instruments are used to perform the surgery through a tiny incision. If keyhole surgery is possible, the recovery time and risk of infection are reduced. Post-surgery pain may also be lessened. Some of the sports-related injuries that can be repaired through keyhole surgeries include:
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears
- Bone fractures
- Bone Rotator cuff injuries
- Labral tear
- Meniscal tears
- Patellar subluxation and dislocation
- Shoulder dislocation
- Tennis/golfers elbow
Things to Know About Your Recovery
Recoveries take time. You should work with a physical therapist to slowly retain strength and mobility. If you push too hard, the risk of new or repeat injuries increases. You and your surgeon will discuss the best recovery plan, how long to expect you’ll be out, and how to get back into the game without causing additional strain on your body.
It’s always best to work with an expert in sports and orthopedic medicine to ensure you’re in a treatment program that’s targeted to your specific needs and abilities. Premium Sports & Orthopedics offers non-surgical treatments that can be extremely effective in certain patients. Schedule an appointment with our medical team to see if surgery is truly your best option or if there are other alternatives you can try first.
If surgery is recommended, ask us about a comprehensive physical therapy program. We’ll work with you to get you back with your team as soon as possible without risking reinjury.
