FAQ - General Questions

Here you will find some answers to questions that do not directly corrospond with the other topics in the Medical Library.
Q :		*What Is Sports Medicine?*
A :		The use of the term ìSports Medicineî began in the late 1960ís and early 1970ís when universities began teaching "Sports Medicine courses. When the term was first used, the Sports Medicine field consisted mostly of orthopedic surgeons who worked with the injured athlete. Sports Medicine now involves not only orthopedic surgeons and athletes, but incorporates many different types of doctors and serves to treat an extremely wide variety of people. The Sports Medicine physician is an expert in working with sports related, or sports like, injuries to the body. The most common injuries seen by the Sports Medicine physician are those to joints, such as the elbow, shoulder, knee, and ankle. Due to the involvement of the joint, the sports medicine physician must work closely with body tissues like muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and cartilage. The sports medicine physician works with the injured person to attain the goal of recovery through a cooperative effort of treatment and rehabilitation. By use of the physicianís expertise and experience, in cooperation with the patient's hard work, that goal can be attained.

Q :		*What is Arthroscopy?*
A :		Arthroscopy is one of the most valuable tools a surgeon has. Instead of making big incisions which can disturb and expose large areas of tissue when executing surgical investigations and procedures, arthroscopy enables the surgeon to have a great view of the injury with minimal disturbance to the body tissue. Arthroscopic surgery is performed by inserting the desired tools and instruments through a number (usually 3 or 4) of small portals (diameter __) that the surgeon has made around the injured area. The surgeon sees what he is doing by means of a fiber-optic camera which is placed in one of the portals. The visual field of the camera is displayed on a large T.V. It is from this view which the surgeon performs the procedures. Arthroscopic surgery is a very useful way to perform surgeries in the joint area, and is used whenever possible because of its method of minimal disturbance to the injury and the surrounding areas. The methods and techniques of arthroscopic surgery have greatly improved an increased over the years, thus enabling surgeons to perform a wider variety of complicated surgeries with very high success rates.