The Foundry Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Blog

The cliché you are what you eat, or in the case of this discussion you will perform better depending on what you eat and drink both before and during exercise holds true.  Hydration and nutrition are an important part of optimum performance with exercise but especially as the weather gets warmer and with exercise that lasts more than 60 minutes.

Now that the weather is breaking, the grass is getting greener and the Red Sox are in full swing, it can only mean one thing is coming soon: SOFTBALL SEASON!  Now I will admit that I am not an avid softball player; I was a lacrosse player growing up, but I have treated many recreational softball players in our facility.  One of the most common injuries seen in recreational throwing athletes is acute shoulder inflammation of the rotator cuff from a sudden increase in throwing volume and intensity. 

At this busy time with the holidays upon us, many of us find ourselves making our travel plans or unpacking our suitcases for the next trip. Although most of you may be traveling to see family, I am sure not many are traveling much like an Athletic Trainer to an away game (maybe a teacher or two on a field trip, but not quite).

Now that Fall sports are back in full swing, I, along with the other physicians and certified athletic trainers at Foundry Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, spend a lot of our time covering various athletic events. This is something we enjoy doing and believe it is an essential contribution to the athletic community. My blog this week is geared toward the parents of athletes and is taken from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s STOP Sports Injuries campaign (2010):

With the football season upon us once again, I’ve decided to blog about an all-too-common injury we see in competitive athletes and the rehabilitation following surgery.  ACL ruptures are usually followed by reconstruction surgery that is then followed by progressive rehabilitation that may last up to 12 months. In the NFL, there is an average of 53 ACL injuries per year.  Offensive skill positions, such as running backs & wide receivers, have the highest ACL injury rates. Depending on the extent of injury to these athletes, most players can expect 6-12 months before being cleared by a physician to return to their previous level of play.

Over 8 years ago as a college junior, my Mom asked me if I was interested in taking an entire weekend out of my summer to ride my bike 150 miles, I thought she was crazy! Who in their right mind would want to do such a thing?

The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in the body. It connects your calf muscles to your heel bone and is used when you walk, run and jump.
Rupture of the Achilles tendon is one of the most common tendon ruptures in the adult population. The incidence of Achilles tendon rupture has been estimated to range from an annual average of 5.5 ruptures to 9.9 ruptures per 100,000 people in North America. Most of these tendon ruptures are traumatic in origin, but some studies have shown an association with taking a certain class of antibiotics (quinolones such as Ciprofloxacin or Levofloxacin). Most ruptures occur during sports activities and are more common in males in their third or fourth decade of life. They are also more common on the left side. Typically, the tendon will rupture approximately 2-6 cm above where it inserts on the heel bone.

As a physical therapist, fitness and health has always been a part of my weekly routine. Over the last eight months, my level of fitness has slowed down compared to my prior level of fitness five to ten years ago. I have always had some sort of gym routine on a three to five sessions per week basis. In high school, workouts were typically dictated by a “team routine,” splitting up workouts between pre-season, in-season and off-season. During college sports, we were held to a high workout standard. Workouts consisted of pre, post, in and off season. Athletic trainers, physical therapists, certified strength and conditioning specialists and other health care professionals guided us to meet, reach and exceed both our goals and our coach's expectations.

External snapping hip syndrome is a challenging condition to treat which can be caused by several different pathologic processes. All patients with snapping hip syndrome have a reproducible “snap” during particular movements of the hip joint. Various causes have been separated into external snapping hip syndrome, internal snapping hip syndrome, and intra-articular snapping hip syndrome. Of the three categories, external snapping hip is the most common and is caused by thickening of the iliotibial band or gluteus maximus snapping over the greater trochanter (see figure). The thickening is believed to be caused by microtrauma to the tendons. Patients with external snapping hip will also have inflammation within the trochanteric bursa.

Golf season is here again!  The average golfer typically plays approximately 37 rounds per year and spends even more time practicing, so it is not surprising that the rate of injuries is on the rise. Public perception, however, is that golf is a low-risk sport. Other sports such as football, ice hockey, or skiing have higher injury rates, but several studies show that golf has its share of injuries, too. One recent study revealed that during a two year period, 60 percent of golf professionals and 40 % of amateurs suffered an injury while golfing. Over 80 percent of the reported injuries were related to overuse, while the remainder were due to acute trauma.