Sports Injuries and Osteoarthritis

Over 90% of athletic injuries involve stretched, torn or weakened soft tissue. Sports injuries, whether an ankle sprain, meniscal tear or rotator cuff tendonitis, occur when the repetitive strain of the athletic event is too much for a particular ligament, tendon, or muscle to perform. When athletics are performed injury-free, they help us to maintain physical, emotional and mental health. However, when the joint sustains an injury, a cycle of joint instability begins. This cycle continues until it eventually results in osteoarthritis.

The development of arthritis can occur within a few years or decades, depending on the extent of the injury. While cartilage loss along with the decreased joint motion plays a central role in osteoarthritis, an injury to the soft tissue structures is actually what initiates this change in equilibrium that leads to the breakdown of cartilage in osteoarthritis.

Standard treatments such as ibuprofen or cortisone injections may provide temporary pain relief from sports injuries, but actually make the athlete prone to re-injury and the continued cycle of joint instability and cartilage degeneration. Pain sensations alert the brain to tissue damage in the body. Using anti-inflammatory treatments to cover up pain is like taking the batteries out of a smoke detector while there is a fire raging. You don’t hear that annoying alarm but the house is burning down!

Modern techniques that utilize a person’s own cells for healing, such as Platelet Rich Plasma, are becoming increasingly popular for non-surgical repair. Most sports injuries respond very well to these types of regenerative injection therapies. They allow a safe return to sports that is dependent on the true integrity of the tissue, versus turning off the pain with a higher dose of pills or cortisone. It can be a win-win for injured athletes both young and old.

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