Sports Injury

Suffering a sports injury can affect your ability to train and compete unless you receive the best treatment. Call Jon Thompson, MD, at his office in McKinney or Prosper, Texas, if you want to regain your full function after a sports injury. A double board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, Dr. Thompson excels in diagnosing and treating sports injuries. He specializes in minimally invasive ligament reconstruction and cartilage preservation and restoration. Call Jon Thompson, MD, today or book an appointment online for expert sports injury treatment.

What are sports injuries?

Sports injuries are musculoskeletal damage affecting the:

• Bones
• Muscles
• Joints
• Cartilage
• Tendons
• Ligaments
• Nerves

You might suffer a sports injury while playing sports, training, or exercising. They affect all athletes, from amateurs to elite professionals. You can also suffer sports injuries during other physical activities, from ballet to gardening.

What kind of sports injury might I suffer?

Common sports injuries include:

• Sprained ankles
• Joint dislocations
• Rotator cuff tears in the shoulder
• Tendon strains
• Ligament sprains
• Muscle strains
• Tendinitis (tendon inflammation)
• Meniscus cartilage tears in the knee
• Labral cartilage tears in the hip and shoulder
• Fractures
• Joint instability

Some injuries are especially common in sports. Examples include tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis), golfer’s elbow (medial epicondylitis), Achilles tendinitis, and pitcher’s elbow (ulnar collateral ligament tear). Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and other knee sprains frequently affect athletes.

Acute sports injuries usually happen suddenly, causing instant, often severe pain. Fractures, dislocations, and connective tissue tears are common acute sports injuries. Chronic sports injuries develop gradually, usually from overuse and repeated movements. Tendinitis — inflammation in the tendons — is a typical example.

What treatment does a sports injury require?

Dr. Thompson will determine the best sports injury treatment after completing a physical exam, reviewing your medical history, and ordering X-rays or a CT scan.

Depending on what’s injured and how bad it is, your personalized treatment plan can include resting; undergoing physical therapy; wearing a cast, splint, or brace; taking medication; and, in some cases, having steroid injections.

Dr. Thompson will need to perform surgery if your sports injury is too severe to heal using these conservative treatments.

What does sports injury surgery involve?

For most patients, Dr. Thompson uses minimally invasive techniques to complete sports injury surgery. This approach has many advantages, including:

• Less tissue damage
• Reduced bleeding
• Lower risk of infection
• Less pain after surgery
• Faster recovery
• Minimal scarring

Most patients can go home the same day as their minimally invasive sports injury surgery, avoiding the expense and inconvenience of a hospital stay.

Dr. Thompson specializes in arthroscopic surgery, using a flexible instrument fitted with a tiny camera (arthroscope). He makes tiny incisions in your body and inserts the arthroscope. He completes the procedure using images the camera sends back to a monitor in the operating room.

Call Jon Thompson, MD, today or book an appointment online to benefit from his expertise in treating sports injuries.