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Musculoskeletal system strains due to sports and physical activities. Although fitness provides a greater level of strength, endurance, and health, it also increases the potential for injury to the joints, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage.
A sports injury could be anything from mild overuse syndrome to a catastrophic traumatic injury that could significantly impact an athlete’s performance and their career. In the last few decades, arthroscopic surgery has become an important component in sports injury treatment, as it is a safe, accurate, and minimally invasive surgical method. There are many advantages of this type of surgery, providing additional opportunities for active individuals and athletes alike.
The leading orthopedic surgeon at Orthocenter, Dr Ahmed Shoaib, strongly believes that arthroscopy represents the standard treatment of choice for many athletes suffering from injuries that occurred during athletics-related activities. He is compassionate and highly skilled in his field, hence follows the approach using a small incision, which is best for both a quicker recovery and preserving the joint for the long term.
In this article, the discussion will be on the benefits of arthroscopic surgery as a sports injury treatment.
An orthopedic surgery that involves the use of a tiny camera to observe and address joint problems is called arthroscopic surgery. The arthroscope enters the joint through a minimal incision, which allows for high-definition imaging displayed on a screen. Arthroscopic Surgeons utilise other small incisions to place small tools into the joint so that repairs or reconstructions are performed, or damaged tissues are removed.
Sports medicine frequently applies this type of procedure to correct various injuries that occur to the knee, shoulder, hip, ankle, elbow, and wrist.
Some of the advantages of arthroscopic surgery are listed below:
The primary reason that arthroscopy is advantageous in treating sports injuries is due to its minimally invasive technique. Open surgery requires large cuts, which lead to complicated dissection of muscle and soft tissue to obtain access to the joint.
However, the small incisions used during arthroscopy lead to far less invasive disruption to the surrounding structures.
The use of this tissue-sparing technique allows athletes to have the ability to heal and recover at a much quicker pace, with a functional outcome directly relying on the preservation of healthy tissues (muscle, ligament, tendon). Additionally, since there is less trauma to the tissues, there is less swelling and inflammation postoperatively, which guarantees that there is less risk of complications. It helps in an athlete’s ability to get healthier and return to movement sooner.
An athlete’s greatest fear after an injury is how long it will take to resume training and compete again. Arthroscopic surgery provides a significant advantage with the ability to recover faster than Traditional Surgery. Because of smaller incisions and reduced trauma to the soft tissue, the healing process is enhanced.
Since rehabilitation is typically started earlier following an arthroscopy and because patients can usually begin mobilizing more quickly, both joint range of motion and muscle strength are improved immediately following surgery. The ability to initiate rehabilitation sooner (and with greater intensity) allows athletes to develop strength in a more progressive and thus safer way before returning to sports competition.
In fact, this enhanced ability to return quickly may allow an athlete to remain at their peak level of competition, as they may still have an edge over competitors who did not have arthroscopic surgery to assist them in recovering from their respective injuries.
It is important to have an exact diagnosis of the injury in order to have an effective sports injury treatment. An MRI or CT scan may provide a lot of useful information and is beneficial in finding the extent of damage done to the joint. However, they may not always provide all the information needed to determine the types of injuries within the joint itself. Arthroscopic surgery gives surgeons a way to see the joint structure directly while performing the diagnosis. This allows for a much better diagnosis than an imaging study alone.
Once the surgeon has direct access to the joint while being able to see it, he or she will be able to see small tears in the ligaments, subtle cartilage injuries, or early degeneration. By being able to see all the structures in the joint, there will be fewer surgeries required to diagnose and treat the injury.
The benefits of arthroscopic surgery increase beyond simply repairing existing injuries to helping maintain joint health for the future. Arthroscopy’s ability to accurately repair all forms of damaged structures and restore joint alignment reduces the risk of future development of chronic pain and instability, as well as the potential for early-onset degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis.
Management of sports-related injuries will help prevent re-injuring the same area, which has led to many people suffering from long-term functional limitations related to the original injury. Preserving the reliability of the joints of young athletes will greatly improve their chances of having an active and long sporting career.
Effective pain management has a greater impact on postoperative recovery. Due to smaller incisions and the less traumatic impact on muscle tissue, arthroscopic surgeries have lower levels of postoperative pain than other surgical procedures. Consequently, patients often require fewer analgesic drugs and have a more pleasant recovery journey.
Lower pain levels allow individuals to start attending physical therapy much sooner than patients with higher levels of pain. Early physical therapy is important for regaining full function of joints following injury or surgery. For athlete patient populations, lower pain levels lead to greater motivation to adhere to rehabilitation protocols, resulting in superior recovery results.
Break the mobility barriers: Meet Dr Ahmed Shoaib to resume an active life
Another major benefit of having surgery with an arthroscope, compared to open surgery, is a lower chance of complications. Smaller incisions create less opportunity for infection and a lower chance of developing excessive bleeding or having problems with wound healing. In addition, following the operation, there is a reduced degree of inflammatory response, and the result will be less scarring and extreme stiffness.
Athletes must maintain flexibility in their joints to perform at an elite level and minimize both the amount of scarring and the amount of stiffness to keep their joints as mobile as possible; otherwise, they may risk losing the range of motion, strength, and coordination they need to perform optimally in their sport.
Many athletes suffer from extreme anxiety, depression and frustration in reaction to sports injuries. For athletes, the process of surgery and healing can be a horrible journey. However, with the invention of minimally invasive surgery (through the use of arthroscopic techniques), athletes are now aware that they will receive treatment in a relatively quick amount of time and that there is little scarring after the procedure.
The small amount of scarring allows athletes to resume their competitive lifestyles sooner, and therefore, there is a more positive impact on the mental aspects of rehabilitation. Such patients will thus have more confidence when returning to the sport following rehab.
For a sports person, nothing can be more pleasing than hearing that he is not going to stay in the hospital for long. The best thing about the procedure is that it enables patients to go home, often on the same day. As a result, the expense of health care, as well as the follow-up for accessing treatment, is reduced. Thus, athletes are able to remain at home during recovery while adhering to structured rehabilitation programs.
In the end, the use of arthroscopic surgery in sports injury treatment has created a new era of technology for surgical treatment. It provided orthopedic surgeons with a way to perform procedures using a few small incisions instead of large ones. Physicians can now visualize with very high quality how intense the damage is and how precise they are repairing it. The advantages of arthroscopic surgery include reduced pain, faster recovery times, accurate identification of the type of injury or damage, and the ability of patients to achieve excellent long-term results.
Some of the leading experts in orthopedic surgery, such as Dr Ahmed Shoaib, believe that arthroscopic surgery is the safest and most effective method for an athlete to recover from injury and return to play with full use of their joint function and performance. Patients under the care of highly trained and educated medical professional Dr Ahmed Shoaib expect to receive treatment based on scientific evidence and an organized program of rehabilitation. Moreover, they return to a normal lifestyle with confidence.
