Sports medicine

What it is sports medicine?

Sports medicine uses non-surgical means to prevent and treat pain and injury to the musculoskeletal system—your bones, muscles, joints, cartilage, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissue.  

Although the specialty is called “sports medicine,” you don’t have to be an athlete or have been injured playing a sport to benefit from seeing a sports medicine provider. The skilled, compassionate caregivers at Allina Health Orthopedics can help just about anyone with their musculoskeletal health, whether there was an injury or not. 

Good for treating

Playing sports and being active are generally beneficial to your health, but occasionally injuries happen. Some of the conditions we treat are: 

• sprains (when a ligament tears or overstretches) 
• strains (when muscle or tendon fibers stretch too far, also known as pulled muscles)  
• overuse injuries involving tendons, muscles or joints  
• arthritis 
• Runner’s knee, jumper’s knee, patellofemoral syndrome, ligament and meniscus injuries 
• shoulder dislocation, shoulder impingement syndrome, AC joint separation   
• tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow 
• broken bones and stress fractures 
• concussion 
• injuries to the hand and wrist, trigger finger, carpal tunnel and gamekeeper’s thumb  
• hip bursitis and tendonitis 
• ankle and foot sprains and strains, Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis  
• injuries benefiting from regenerative medicine. 

What to expect

Your visit with a sports medicine provider is a collaboration. We know it’s important to understand how your condition happened and how it affects the quality of your life.  

After listening to your concerns and evaluating your injury, your sports medicine provider will talk with you about treatment options. These can range from new and innovative healing therapies and techniques such as regenerative medicine, to traditional treatments including: 

• physical therapy 
• prescription medications  
• ultrasound-guided injections 
• sports nutrition and supplementation.  

Our sports medicine and non-surgical orthopedic physicians work closely with our specialized orthopedic surgeons. If surgery is the best option for your condition, your sports medicine team will facilitate a consultation with a surgeon who has expertise managing your specific injury.  

Good to know

If you’re an athlete, we get you. Allina Health physicians, physical therapists and certified athletic trainers spend thousands of hours each year providing medical sports coverage and athletic training services at school and community events. Many are athletes themselves. All have extensive training in the musculoskeletal system, and all are committed to delivering the highest level of sports medicine expertise to each athlete.  

Allina Health is also the Official Orthopedic Partner of Minnesota United FC. Whether it’s mending a sprain, fixing a fracture or treating chronic joint pain, you can access the same level of top-notch orthopedic care.  

If you don’t think of yourself as an athlete, you still deserve to feel and function your best. Together, we’ll find the solution that fits you best. 

Good for preventing

It’s best, of course, to avoid injury altogether. Talk with a sports medicine provider if: 

• you’ve been injured in the past and want to know if there is something you can do to avoid getting injured again 
• you’ve recovering from injury and want to know if you are cleared to resume activity 
• you haven’t been injured, but have concerns about playing a sport or participating in a physical activity.