How to improve athletic performance with sports medicine
Sports medicine at Premiere Spine and Sports Medicine in Westchester, CA, offers specialized care aimed at diagnosing, treating, and preventing injuries associated with athletic activities and physical performance. Our team of sports medicine experts collaborates closely with athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and active individuals to deliver personalized care that improves physical function, supports recovery, and promotes lasting musculoskeletal health. Whether you’re a competitive athlete or enjoy sports recreationally, our mission is to help you stay active safely and effectively.
Sports medicine is a branch of healthcare focused on diagnosing, preventing, and treating injuries related to exercise and sports activities. Beyond injury management, it also employs exercise-based interventions to help control and prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
Los Angeles sports medicine primarily focuses on enhancing your athletic performance, preventing future injuries, and aiding recovery from existing injuries. The sports medicine specialists work with amateur athletes, individuals seeking optimal results from exercise programs, and those recovering from injuries aiming to restore full function.
Here are some of the sports medicine treatments that most facilities offer:
Joint Injection
Joint injections, including hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids, are typically administered under local anesthesia to treat inflammatory joint conditions such as tendonitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and bursitis. Many sports medicine facilities in Los Angeles provide these joint treatments to patients with disabilities, as well as those suffering from osteoarthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
Joint Aspiration
Similar to joint injections, joint aspirations are performed under local anesthesia and involve the removal of fluid from around the joints. In most sports medicine facilities in Los Angeles, joint aspiration serves both therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.
The fluid collected during joint aspiration is sent to laboratories for analysis. Removing excess joint fluid or large effusions can enhance mobility and provide significant pain relief.
Trigger Point Injections
Trigger points are small, highly sensitive areas within muscles that react painfully to pressure or touch. Common causes of these trigger points include injuries, muscle tension, and spasms, frequently affecting the back, shoulders, and neck.
Trigger point injections provide pain relief and muscle relaxation by delivering medication directly into these sensitive spots. Sports medicine professionals often use injections like cortisone at the trigger points in muscles or joints to alleviate discomfort.
Ligament Injections
Ligament or tendon injections help heal collagen-centered connective tissues such as ligaments and tendons after sustaining injuries. They provide significant pain relief from ligament injuries and inflammation associated with soft tissues, which mostly occur around the ankle, knee, and elbow.
Sometimes professionals find it difficult to diagnose these conditions since they may not be in the position to show up on the standard imaging. A thorough discussion of the patient’s history can help identify the diagnosis.
Nerve Hydrodissection
Nerve Hydrodissection is a treatment designed to relieve pain caused by carpal tunnel syndrome and nerve entrapments. It also helps reduce nerve irritation in areas where nerves pass through tunnels or canals in the body. This procedure involves injecting a controlled amount of fluid around the nerves to free them from adhesions with surrounding tissues.
These injections target the area around the nerves, not the nerves themselves, to release these adhesions. By lowering the pressure on the nerves, this treatment promotes nerve regeneration and significantly reduces pain.
Steroid Injections
Steroid injections are also known as cortisone treatments. The steroid shots are the common treatments for the inflammation of bursa, joints, and tendons. Steroid injections at the sports medicine near me are usually given in various ways which include intra-articular injections, intramuscular injections, and intravenous injections. They typically take some days to start working, but some of them may even take a few hours, and their effect wears out after some months.
Sports Medicine Conditions We Treat
Sports medicine professionals treat a range of acute injuries and chronic conditions. Acute injuries include ligament sprains (torn ligaments), tendon strains (injuries to tendons), cartilage damage, contusions, concussions, and fractures such as broken bones.
Chronic conditions managed by sports medicine facilities in Los Angeles include stress fractures, arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, and nerve entrapments. An example is carpal tunnel syndrome, a chronic nerve compression often occurring near swollen or inflamed joints.
Who Should Consider This Treatment?
Sports medicine services are beneficial for:
- Athletes at every level, including high school, college, recreational, and professional
- Individuals dealing with recurring sports injuries like sprains, strains, and tendonitis
- Those experiencing joint discomfort, muscle tightness, or limitations in performance
- Athletes recovering from surgery who require structured rehabilitation
- Anyone aiming to enhance physical performance or adopt injury prevention techniques
- Older adults who stay active through sports or fitness activities