From an interview with
Dr. Brandon McDonald
Orthopedic Sports Medicine Physician

Orthopedic injuries are possible when playing sports, whether you are a professional athlete or are just playing for fun. Sports medicine physician Dr. Brandon McDonald reviews the most common injuries he treats at McLeod Orthopaedics and explains how you can avoid being sidelined from your favorite activities by taking simple precautions. 

“Concussions, muscle sprains, strains and tears, ligament sprains, arthritis, simple, non-displaced fractures are things we see. We’ll triage it to the appropriate surgeon if it requires operative intervention for more advanced complex fractures.

We see a wide array of orthopedic injuries. Myself, as a sports medicine doctor, I see a large portion of youth athletes from middle school to high school to collegiate. That’s maybe 30% of the patients I see. But I also see a large portion of patients that are not necessarily an “athlete” but have orthopedic injuries nonetheless.

In terms of caring for a sports medicine injury, you need to determine the acuity of the injury, whether it’s an acute or chronic process. So protection could be in the form of a splint or some type of immobilization such as a walking boot. 

It’s important that people don’t do the same activity repeatedly all the time. Exercise is good. The recommended amount is about 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, five times a week. That’s something people should strive towards, but oftentimes, people maybe go from not being active, and then their doctor tells them to start being active, and they might start doing the same activity repeatedly, too frequently, in a short period of time. Oftentimes, that’s where I see people get hurt. That can usually be avoided with gradual increase in physical activity as well as cross training – doing different activities. 

I guess what I’d like people to know about sports medicine is that we’re here for you in the community. We’d like to be your advocate. We want to help you. 

To learn more, speak with a sports medicine specialist near you.