As its name implies, sports medicine plays a big role in helping athletes stay healthy and get the most from their sport. But don’t be fooled: Sports medicine offers plenty of benefits for other people, too, including nonathletes who want to tap into all the benefits of an active lifestyle.
At Orange Orthopaedic Associates, our board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, James M. Lee Jr., MD, helps patients in West Orange and Bayonne, New Jersey, enjoy their activities while staying healthy and preventing injuries that can place them on the sidelines.
In this post, we explain how sports medicine could help you.
Any type of sport or activity involves physical and emotional demands. Sports medicine offers plenty of benefits to help you stay active and get the most from your activity.
Dr. Lee helps athletes learn simple ways to warm up their muscles and joints before competition or practice. Warming up prepares your body and helps prevent overuse injuries, like tendon injuries or muscle strains, that happen when you play cold.
Similarly, cooling down after activities helps your body return to a resting state slowly. Cooling down may involve slow walking, stretching, or other movements that help you gradually restore your pre-activity heart rate, blood pressure, and circulation.
Every activity requires flexibility and strength, but the specific demands on your body can vary dramatically depending on the type of sport you play and your levels of activity and expertise.
General stretching is helpful, but most active people require other flexibility exercises to keep their joints, tendons, and ligaments flexible and responsive.
Likewise, focusing on specific muscle groups can yield impressive results on the field, but you should maintain good strength overall to prevent overuse injuries and avoid muscle imbalances that can lead to strain and other issues.
Sports medicine teaches athletes how to improve specific skills and their overall performance through tailored exercise regimens aimed at improving strength, flexibility, balance, and coordination for greater enjoyment of the sport and reduced risk of injury.
Obviously, different sports require different skill sets, and they also place varying amounts of stress and strain on your body. For instance, the skills required for racquet sports are dramatically different from the skills that a marathon runner needs.
Dr. Lee helps athletes understand the biomechanical demands of their sport, working with both athletes and trainers to develop comprehensive routines focused on sport-specific skills.
Through sports medicine, you can learn ways to refine your technique and your form so you can play better, stay competitive, and get the most from your sport while reducing injury risk.
Dr. Lee and our team have extensive experience in sports medicine therapies and preventive treatments. That means they’re skilled at tailoring every program to each individual’s needs and goals.
No matter which sport you play or what level of activity you enjoy, sports medicine can help you maintain your active lifestyle while avoiding injuries. To learn more about sports medicine and its benefits, book an appointment online or over the phone with our team at Orange Orthopaedic Associates today.
