Sports Injuries & Arthroscopy

Sports Injury Management

When you suffer an injury during sports events, never try to continue the activity in pain because it may cause further harm. Some injuries may require prompt attention by a doctor, while others can be treated at home.

You should seek medical treatment if:

The injury is causing severe pain, swelling, or numbness.
You are not able to put any weight on the injured area.
The pain or dull ache of an old injury has increased along with swelling and joint instability.

Arthroscopy

Arthroscopy is a surgical procedure in which an arthroscope is inserted into a joint. Arthroscopy is a term that comes from two Greek words, arthro- meaning joint and – scopemeaning to examine.

Arthroscopy is performed in a hospital operating room under general anesthesia.

The arthroscope is a small fiber-optic viewing instrument made up of a tiny lens, light source and video camera. The surgical instruments used in arthroscopic surgery are very small (only 3 or 4 mm in diameter), but appear much larger when viewed through an arthroscope.

The television camera attached to the arthroscope displays the image of the joint on a television screen, allowing the surgeon to look, for example, throughout the knee-at cartilage and ligaments, and under the kneecap. The surgeon can determine the amount or type of injury, and then do the repair.Usually, this procedure is performed on a patient under spinal or general anesthesia.

Often, Arthroscopic surgeries for sports injuries are used in blend with other methods or open surgeries. The most common condition, whereArthroscopysurgery is used, is to treat tendon tears in the knee. Other conditions include torn ligaments & cartilage, carpal tunnel syndrome, inflammation of joint lining, tears in rotator cuffs & loosening of cartilage and bones.

After the surgery, the cut will be sewed shut and dressed neatly. In most of the cases, patients need almost no pain medication as compared to the medication required to recover from open surgery.

Advantages of arthroscopy

Small incisions
Slight soft tissue trauma &thus very less pain
Quicker recovery
Lesser blood loss
More comfortable rehabilitation
Reduced scaring
Earlier mobilization to recover pain-free motion
No risk of cutting muscles/tendons
Early movement of joint helps in healing & leads to better results.
Arthroscopy is more beneficial for many sports injuries that affect shoulder, knee,ankle and hip.