Do you play sports? Millions of Americans do. But did you know that participating in sports is a major cause of injury in the United States? In fact, an estimated 8.6 million Americans between the ages of 5 and 24 suffer sports-related injuries each year.
Sports injuries range from mild sprains to serious fractures — and everything in between. Getting injured can quickly put you on the sidelines, but sports medicine care could get you back into the game faster.
Aron Rovner, MD, and our team at New York Spine and Sports Surgery work with athletes of all ages and abilities, helping them heal faster. If you’ve been injured playing your favorite sports, it’s time to learn more about your nonsurgical treatment options.
Physical therapy is a customizable, noninvasive treatment for a variety of injuries. In physical therapy, your therapist guides you through stretches, passive movements, and exercises that target the injured area.
Participating in physical therapy helps stimulate recovery. It builds strength and flexibility in the muscles, soft tissues, and joints that suffered damage as a result of your injury. Not only can it help you heal faster, but it can also reduce your risk of reinjury in the future.
Dr. Rovner may recommend physical therapy after an initial period of rest, with or without other treatments. Even if you need surgical repair, physical therapy will play an important role in your recovery.
Joint injections are a minimally invasive treatment option for pain that’s caused by joint injury or degenerative pain, like arthritis. Dr. Rovner specializes in joint injections with corticosteroids, anesthetics, and hyaluronic acid.
The right type of injection for you depends on your condition and the cause behind it. Some of the most common joint injections include:
Facet joints connect the vertebral bones in your spine. They give your spine the ability to move, twist, and bend, but injury or degeneration can lead to facet joint pain in your neck or back.
Dr. Rovner uses facet joint injections to address neck and back pain. In some cases, facet joint injections can also relieve arm or leg pain.
He uses an X-ray to guide a small needle into the facet joint that’s causing you pain. He injects a small amount of medication into the joint, which may offer pain relief that lasts up to several months.
Dr. Rovner administers intra-articular injections directly into the joint that’s causing you pain. These types of injections are most commonly used to treat hip and knee pain.
Intra-articular injections target inflammation in the joint. Some people need more than one injection over a period of time, but one injection could offer up to six months of pain relief.
The sacroiliac joints connect your hips to the sacrum at the bottom of your spine. Sacroiliac injections deliver pain-relieving medication to these joints, with the goal of relieving lower back pain.
Dr. Rovner may recommend sacroiliac injections to treat back pain associated with injury, but it can also be a good treatment option for chronic conditions like sciatica.
Radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive procedure that addresses nerve pain originating in your spine. It utilizes radio waves to damage nerves and prevent pain signals from reaching your brain.
Like facet injections, Dr. Rovner uses X-ray imaging to guide the placement of the radiofrequency needle in your spine. The needle emits an electrical current that gently heats the nerve and stops pain signals at the source.
When it comes to managing pain during recovery from sports injury, we have a range of options available at New York Spine and Sports Surgery. Dr. Rovner and our team take a conservative approach to care, and we strive to find the right combination of nonsurgical treatments to help you heal.
Many athletes find that conservative care is effective in their recovery, but surgery might be necessary in some cases. Dr. Rovner repairs damaged tissues using minimally invasive surgical techniques that have a lower risk of postoperative complications.
We provide quality sports medicine care at New York Spine and Sports Surgery. With clinics in Garden City, New York, and Fair Lawn, New Jersey, we’re here for you. Call us or send us a message online to learn more.
