Sports medicine doctors play a vital role in optimizing athletic performance and promoting safety in sports and exercise and preventing injuries. Their expertise lies in injury treatment and identifying conditions that are affecting your athletic performance.
Anyone who has a physically active lifestyle – and you don’t have to be a professional athlete – can benefit from having a sports medicine doctor on their care team. If you are looking to get active, a specialist such as a sports medicine doctor, can help you achieve your goals and prevent injuries along the way. Learn more about the role of sports medicine in athletics.
How a Sports Doctor Can Help Improve Your Sports Performance
How exactly can a sports medicine physician help you? Below are some of the things that this physician can do:
#1 Evaluate Your Performance
The evaluation provided by sports medicine doctors is tailored to your individual sport, encompassing various key elements. This comprehensive assessment includes baseline measurements, such as resting heart rate, body composition, and blood pressure, which serve as essential indicators of your current fitness level.
Additionally, sports doctors may utilize biomechanical video analysis to examine specific characteristics of body mechanics that directly impact your performance and are vital to excel in your sport.
This personalized evaluation enables the doctor to create a targeted training plan and intervention to optimize your athletic capabilities and ensure you reach your full potential. Your patient-tailored program may include strength and conditioning exercises, agility training, flexibility routines, and sport-specific drills.
#2 Help Prevent Sports Injuries
Preventing injuries is a crucial aspect of enhancing athletic performance. Sports medicine doctors are trained to recognize potential injury risks – such as poor technique and areas of weakness – and address them proactively.
Sports medicine doctors work with athletes to identify proper warm-up and cool-down techniques, strengthen their core, maintain flexibility, avoid fatigue, and stress the importance of rest and recovery and the proper healing of injuries to avoid a chronic problem. As an athlete, these all work towards optimizing your body’s performance.
#3 Stress the Importance of Nutrition
Nutrition is a key factor in athletic performance. Sports medicine doctors work closely with other specialists, even dietitians, for the meal and nutrition plans that support an athlete’s training and performance goals. Sports physicians educate athletes about proper hydration and essential dietary components to optimize their energy levels and promote recovery.
How a Sports Doctor Makes Sports Safer
It is not uncommon to see sports medicine doctors traveling with sports teams. They provide services to athletes to help make sports safer, such as
#1 Pre-Participation Physical Exam
Sports medicine doctors conduct physical examinations before a game to ensure that the athlete is in good health and is fit to play the game. The evaluation can reveal underlying issues that can predispose an athlete to unsatisfactory performance and a greater risk of injury.
#2 Concussion Management and Return-to-Play Protocols
A sports doctor can establish comprehensive concussion management protocols to ensure prompt medical attention is provided to the athlete. This may include educating athletes, coaches, and sports personnel on the common signs and symptoms of concussions, and ensuring they follow safe return-to-the-play protocols.
#3 Develop Sports-Specific Training and Safety Guidelines
Sports medicine doctors usually collaborate with coaches and athletic trainers to develop training and safety guidelines for athletes in areas such as proper equipment use, biomechanics, and form and technique for safe and continued participation in the sport.
#4 Enhance Emergency Medical Preparedness
Sports medicine physicians are trained to handle medical emergencies that may arise during sports events, ensuring emergency medicine protocols are in place and access to medical supplies and emergency care is readily available.
Sports Medicine Doctors in Johnson County, KS
The highly trained sports medicine physicians at Midwest Orthopaedics serve the needs of athletes and weekend warriors. We are highly skilled in getting injured patients back into action, through proper treatment protocols, and strongly believe in injury prevention. Due to our expertise, we are tasked to work with local sports teams to provide on-site medical care for athletes.
Have our experts work with you on performance improvement and injury prevention. To schedule an appointment with one of our sports doctors, call our office today at (913) 362-8317 or use our online request form.
