Last updated: January 29th, 2025
If you’re an adrenaline junkie, a gym buff or a professional athlete, chances are you’ve taken your fair share of hits in life. Despite all the protective gear and all the caution you can possibly exercise, sports injuries are bound to happen. Sports Injuries range in severity from bumps and bruises to fractures to serious displacement of the joints and permanent injuries sometimes as well. If you’re located in Dubai, however, you are fortunate to be in the care of expert doctors. Bet Winner Uganda
Sports Injuries and their Care
Among the most common consultations you’re likely to get when you sustain a sports injury is to consult an orthopedic surgeon. Very often, sports injuries are also easily managed with non-surgical methods such as physiotherapy and corrective braces, but sometimes you will have to opt for a hip replacement or the like.
Sports medicine specialists in Dubai don’t always recommend that you jump into surgery, since some injuries are easily mitigated without invasive surgeries with long recovery periods. For professional athletes, it is more commonplace to get surgeries since they have commitments to be back on the field and since the nature of their injuries is usually repetitive owing to constant strain on and off the field. Should injury symptoms persist even after non-surgical medical procedures, surgery becomes a necessity to alleviate pain and maintain mobility.
The Right Treatment, at the Right Time
One of the many advantages of being in Dubai is your access to permanent and visiting surgeons with specialisation in the sports injury domain. Orthopedic surgeons offer specialised treatment packages for shoulder, leg and hip injuries, including knee replacement surgeries. These are all precarious locations to have injuries, and the slightest margin of error causes a serious setback in recovery, but that is mitigated when you consult a surgeon with a subspecialty in the location of your injury. With a shorter post-recovery surgery time, many star athletes return to the field soon after their treatment in Dubai.
The most common injuries (not necessitating surgery in most scenarios) include- concussions, muscle strains, fractures, ankle and elbow sprains, knee and shoulder injuries, fractures, tendonitis, compartmental syndrome, bursitis and cartilage damage.
Some common injuries are covered briefly below:
- ACL Tears
The ACL is an extremely susceptible ligament in the knee that often gets torn during athleticism and general movement. The ACL surgery is primarily the removal of the torn ligament which braces the knee, replaced by a tendon taken from some other place in your body.
Since the ACL is located at a place which requires significant torque and is necessary for all kinds of leg movement, a rest period of around a year or more is recommended before returning to professional sport.
- Rotator Cuff Tears
Much like ACL tears, rotator cuffs are muscles and tendons wrapped around the shoulder joints. In sports like tennis and basketball, which place strain on the arms and shoulders, these injuries are quite commonplace.
The torn tendons are reattached to the bone, after which braces and slings are required to keep them in place and allow the shoulder to heal. Besides physical therapy, athletes with torn rotator cuffs require 6–12 months of rest and recuperation.
- Fractures
Severe impact sports often cause fractures in the bone, which can happen in any bone in the body. There are both surgical and non-surgical treatments for fractures-the ones requiring internal fixation of the bones are usually a consequence of the bone being shattered instead of cleanly broken in one place. Screws, rods and pins are used to align the bone back in its place. Recovery time ranges from anywhere between a month to several months.
Surgeries and their Particulars
- Keyhole Surgery-This is a very common treatment for sports-related injuries, specially those in the knees. It involves making a small incision, after which a minuscule camera is inserted to assist the surgeon into placing torn tendons back in their place. This surgery is also known as arthroscopy.
- Robot-Assisted Joint Replacement- With the best of technology, including bone-cutting precision, motion analysis and precise navigation, complicated surgeries such as knee replacement are made extremely effective, which enables faster
- Total Knee Arthoplasty- A common surgery for serious knee issues, it involves removing the injured or diseased joint with an implant. The medial, lateral and patellofemoral parts of the knee are completely removed and replaced. Recovery time is substantially higher than Partial Knee Arthroplasty, which replaces only the lateral or medial knee areas- a common surgery for patients with osteoarthritis.
- Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) is a serious surgery with a high recovery time. A THA replaces the affected surfaces of the joints of the hip with prosthetics. This is a consequence of serious damage to the hip and can take months for recovery.
Conclusion
Do your due diligence before treating sports injuries, including research on hospitals in Dubai and the doctors offering specialisation in the location of your injury. Since Dubai has an aging population, the boom in orthopedic medicine and treatment is a silver lining for everyone sports-oriented living in Dubai.