Winning The Injury Recovery Race: Effects of Sports Injuries on Athletes

Injuries are a part of playing sports. Athletes, both amateurs and professionals, need to be educated on injury prevention and receive comprehensive injury treatment when necessary in order to keep playing their sport. As an athlete, the game becomes a huge part of who you are. It becomes your identity and a source of confidence. As such, being sidelined by an injury can really take a toll on you, not just physically but also mentally.

How do athletes deal with sports injuries? How do they win the injury recovery race?

Psychological Impact of Sports Injuries

The psychological impact of sports injuries on athletes is well-recorded. Athletes not only face the physical aspects of recovery but also the mental aspects. Your mental state can affect your physical recovery. Doubts and anxieties have no place on the field or court. You have to be mentally strong to reach performance goals.

Here are examples of the mental impact that sports injuries can have on athletes:

• Fearing not being able to play again
• Anxiety over a slow recovery
• Doubting whether they will fully recover
• Fear of a repeat of the injury
• Losing confidence in oneself
• Being forced to give up the game and enter an early retirement

In order to get back to 100%, athletes need superior sports medicine care.

Winning The Injury Recovery Race

To win the injury recovery race, you need an expert in sports injury treatment. A board-certified orthopedic surgeon fellowship-trained in sports medicine is your best bet. It makes a world of a difference if the doctor you are seeing has specialized knowledge in sports medicine, which is a branch of medicine that deals with injuries sustained through sports or exercise. Professional sports teams have a sports medicine doctor that travels with them for the benefit of the players.

A sports medicine doctor can quickly diagnose a sports injury and get you back to your game sooner. They make sure you recover comfortably, help you manage pain symptoms, and monitor your rehabilitation, so you get back the full use of your injured body part quickly and effectively.

A sports medicine doctor knows the mental challenges that athletes face during injury and rehabilitation. They are also well-trained in how to help patients overcome the mental obstacles to recovery. They employ state-of-the-art treatments and ensure your confidence in your ability to recover remains high.

Sports Medicine Doctors in St. Peters and O’Fallon, Missouri

At Advanced Bone & Joint, we have two sports medicine physicians — Dr. Brandon Larkin and Dr. Matthew P. Melander — who provide specialized treatment to athletes and weekend warriors with sports injuries. Dr. Larkin and Dr. Melander also focus on patient education and emphasize injury prevention as better than any treatment

Additionally, Dr. Larking and Dr. Melander help improve athletic performance. We can treat all manner of sports injuries in our clinic. To make an appointment with a sports medicine doctor, call (636) 229-4222 or use our online request form.