Sports Medicine Physician

Sports Medicine Physicians have undertaken extensive specialist training to qualify as Sports Physicians. They provide a different approach to Orthopaedic Surgeons but complement and work very closely with their surgical colleagues.

While Orthopaedic Surgeons tend to be more focussed on the operative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries, Sports Physicians are doctors who specialise in the non-operative treatment of such injuries. This qualifies the Sports Physician to be an excellent initial point-of-contact for the injured patient as approximately 90% of all injuries are non-surgical.

If surgery is needed, the Sports Physician can expedite referral to an appropriate Orthopaedic Surgeon at the Cardiff Bay Clinic or The Vale Hospital. Beyond injury management, Sports Physicians are also focused on preventing injuries by strengthening weaknesses, correcting imbalances and enhancing performance.

Services provided by Sports Physicians include:

• New Tendonitis treatment at Vale Healthcare - Arthrex ACP Double Syringe System
• Acute injury assessment & management (such as ankle sprains, muscle strains, knee & shoulder injuries, and fractures)
• Chronic overuse injuries
• Groin Pain
• Assessment and medical management of degenerative joint disease
• Joint & soft tissue injections ( steroid, viscosupplementation etc)
• Athletes with chronic or acute illness (such as infectious mononucleosis, asthma or diabetes)
• Assessment of concussion and other head injuries
• Exercise prescription for patients who want to increase their fitness
• Injury prevention
• “Return to play" decisions in the sick or injured athlete
• Healthy lifestyle promotion
• Pre-participation physical examination
• Elite Player Screenings (pre-season and intra-season)
• Pre-Contractual Medicals (Football and Rugby Clubs
• Care of sports-related and general medical needs of athletes
• Special populations (elderly, disabled, women, youth, etc)
• Sports psychology issues
• Education and counselling on illness & injury prevention
• Coordinating care with other members of the sports medicine team to include coaches, physical therapists, personal physicians, other medical and surgical specialties, and other ancillary personnel of specialty care and rehabilitation