SPORTS: MEDICINE : TECHNOLOGY:
Sports Medicine Goes High-Tech
Sports Medicine Goes High-Tech
POSTED: 9:03 a.m. EDT, October 25, 2006
By David Williams
CNN
(CNN) -- When players get hurt, they're often open to new medical
technology that gets them back in the game more quickly and sometimes
allows recovery from what used to be career-ending injuries.
"High-performance athletes are always looking for an edge and looking for
anything that may allow them to get back sooner after an injury," said Dr.
Michael Brunt, the team surgeon for the St. Louis Blues hockey club.
"If an athlete gets appendicitis or something like that we can take it out
with a scope instead of having to do an open incision and get them back to
activity much sooner than they would have otherwise," said Brunt, who also
consults with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team and the National
Football League's St. Louis Rams.
"I think that's probably true for a lot of different things we do, whether
it's general surgery, hernia surgery or orthopedic surgery, things ... are
being done in a less invasive fashion that allows athletes to recover more
quickly and get back to playing sports sooner."
Brunt said today's players are in better shape, which is a mixed blessing.
"There's been a lot of emphasis on strength training in recent years, and
we actually think that may be one of the reasons why we see more groin
problems than we used to, particularly the sports hernia-type injuries,"
he said.
"There's a much bigger emphasis on strength training, and they don't
necessarily pay attention to the balance and strength and flexibility that
they need to prevent injuries."
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The complete article may be read at the URL above.
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
jwne@temple.edu
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