If you watched the Paris Olympics this summer, you likely saw sports medicine personnel in action along with the athletes — especially when there was an injury. But you don’t have to be an elite athlete to benefit from a sports medicine team. If you’re someone who has experienced an injury to your bones, muscles, or joints from any kind of activity, a sports medicine approach could help get you back on track.

That said, sports medicine most often focuses on helping athletes stay fit, active, and injury-free — and returning them to top condition when injuries do occur. But any type of exercise, as well as physical fitness in general, can fall under the sports medicine umbrella.

Keep reading to learn about:

• The various medical professionals on our sports medicine team;
• Some of the many sports- and activity-related injuries we treat;
• How sports medicine at Spectrum Orthopaedics can help you stay injury-free and enjoy a more active lifestyle.

Who practices sports medicine?

In the U.S. sports medicine can be a subspecialty of several different medical specialties. For example, an orthopedic surgeon can have a sports medicine “subspecialty” (or focus). A primary care physician might also have specialized training in sports medicine. There are also cardiologists, neurologists, pediatricians, nutritionists, and others who may have specialized training in sports medicine.

At Spectrum Orthopaedics, we take a team approach to sports medicine. Our team includes orthopedic physicians, surgeons, physician assistants, physical and occupational therapists, and certified athletic trainers. We treat injuries in both adult and pediatric patients, and have expertise in treating sports injuries in women.

Sometimes these treatments take the form of non-surgical interventions (such as physical therapy and pain management). When necessary we can include surgery in your treatment plan.

“We provide expert, specialized, surgical and non-surgical care for all sports-related injuries, from the shoulder down to the foot. All of the sports medicine physicians at Spectrum are board certified, fellowship-trained sports medicine specialists,” states Bryce Wolf, MD. Currently, our sports medicine team includes five physicians who are fellowship-trained in sports medicine. In addition to Dr. Wolf, the team includes Eric Hoffman, MD; Christopher Lonegan, DO; Thomas Murray, Jr., MD; and Christopher Regnier, DO.

Our sports medicine providers have experience helping everyone from amateur enthusiasts to high school sports teams to professional athletes, across a wide range of sports and activities.

What kinds of injuries does Spectrum’s sports medicine team treat?

Our sports medicine specialists diagnose and treat the full range of sports-related injuries. You can see a comprehensive list here in a drop-down menu. Some of the most common injuries include:

• • Achilles tendon injuries (a strain or complete tear to the tendon connecting your calf muscle to your heel)
  • Fractures (a complete or partial break to one or more of your bones, often caused by falls or a direct hit or kick to the body)
  • Golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow
    • Golfer’s Elbow is a repetitive strain injury causing pain to the inner side of the elbow that may radiate tingling or numbness down into the wrist and hand.
    • Tennis elbow is similar, but affects the outer side of the elbow.
  • Knee ligament tears (Four different knee ligaments holding the knee together can sustain injury: the ACL, which is the ligament running diagonally through the middle of the knee; the MCL, which runs along the inner side of the knee; the PCL, which runs through the middle of the knee behind the ACL; and the LCL, which runs along the outer side of the knee.)
  • Meniscal tears (either a sudden tear or gradual degeneration to the rubbery knee cartilage that cushions the shinbone from the impact of the thighbone)
  • Plantar Fasciitis (inflammation to the thick band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes)
  • Runner’s knee (pain in front of the knee or around the kneecap, especially when active)
  • Bone Spurs (smooth, hard bumps of extra bone that form on the ends of bones, often at the joints and in the feet)
  • Rotator cuff tears (a rip in the group of four muscles and tendons that stabilize your shoulder joint and let you lift and rotate your arms)
  • Shoulder issues, including:
    • impingement (when the top outer edge of your shoulder blade pinches your rotator cuff beneath it, causing pain especially when you move)
    • bursitis (inflammation of a bursa in the shoulder: a closed, fluid-filled sac between the top of the arm bone and the tip of the shoulder)
    • instability (when the lining of the shoulder joint or the ligaments become stretched, torn, or detached and allow the ball of the shoulder joint to move partially or completely out of the socket)
  • Strains and sprains (tears and overstretching to ligaments, muscles, or tendons)
  • Tendinitis (inflammation of the thick fibrous cords that attach muscle to bone)
  • Training and overuse injuries (Overuse injuries are micro-traumas that result from repetitively using the same parts of the body, such as tiny tears in muscle fibers, stress on a tendon, or bruising of a bone, usually by overtraining; overtraining is when an athlete does not adequately recover after repetitive intense training.)

How can sports medicine help me when I’m not injured?

Here are four top sports medicine tips to stay injury-free when you play sports and work out:

1. Warm up wisely! This means engaging in gentle, dynamic movement before you begin your primary activity. This could be something like jogging, high knees, or side-to-side shuffles interspersed with brief stretches held for only a couple seconds per pose (rather than holding stretches for 20, 30, or 60 seconds or more, which is best done after your workout). Use your entire body as you warm up, even if your primary activity focuses more on a single area.

2. Mix things up. When it comes to sports, too much of a good thing can in fact be “too much.”

• • • Make sure you vary the intensity of your training, including periods or tapering and even outright rest in between periods of high intensity. If your muscles don’t get enough time to recover, you’re breaking them down more than you’re building them up. Varying your workout intensity is called periodization.
    • Try diversification. Keep your body balanced by adding in some cross-training: workouts that are not your primary activity and that focus on totally different muscle groups and motions. This can actually augment and improve your performance in your primary sport. It’s also a key ingredient in preventing overuse injuries.

3. Come see us when you’re healthy! It’s a cliché for a reason: an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. When you check in with a sports medicine specialist while healthy, we can:

• • • Assess your strength and mobility.
    • Ask about past injuries and consider what they might mean for your future health and the potential risks of new or continued athletic activities.
    • Offer targeted advice specific to your physical activity goals
    • Assess your technique and how you move, to help reduce potential injury (for example, with a running analysis or bike fit assessment, among others).
    • Guide you on how to ease into a new sport or high-intensity activity so you don’t overdo it and get injured before making the progress you desire.

4. Hydrate and eat well. Sometimes it’s all about the basics. We can help you cut through advertising hype and fads to determine sensible nutrition habits that will support your body’s actual needs. If you’re planning to begin intensive athletic training, you may need to significantly adjust how you’re getting your calories for your body to be at its best. Proper nutrition not only helps you build muscles, it aids their recovery post-workout.

When should I visit the Spectrum sports medicine team?

You don’t have to think of yourself “an athlete” to see us! Get in touch to discuss your situation and schedule an appointment if you:

• • • Need guidance on safer and healthier ways to exercise.
    • Have any kind of injury that affects how well your musculoskeletal system works.
    • Want to increase your level of activity or your performance — especially if you have not been very active in a long time or would like to try a new sport or physical activity.
    • Have a sports-related injury.

Spectrum’s sports medicine team offers services in Brunswick, Norway, Portland, and Windham. We’re able to evaluate and begin treatment within 24 to 48 hours of an injury, thanks in part to our advanced on-site diagnostic imaging services and our robust slate of physical and occupational therapists — in addition to our board-certified sports medicine physicians.

We’d love to help you enjoy your active life even more! Contact Spectrum Orthopaedics to connect with our sports medicine team today.