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Orthopedics

Sports Medicine

You give it your all every time you’re on the field, track or court. You need the same level of commitment from your sports medicine team. That’s what you’ll find at OSF HealthCare. Our specialists include former athletes who know how important it is to get you back in the game safely. From injury prevention to rehabilitation, our services help you keep doing what you love.

Sports Injuries

Visit OSF HealthCare for a diagnosis and treatment of almost any athletic injury, including:

  • Cartilage damage – Tear in the joint’s soft cushioning, such as the meniscus in your knee or the labrum in your hip or shoulder
  • Concussion – Head injury that affects how your brain works
  • Dislocations – Joint that slips out of place after a fall or impact
  • Fracture – Bone that breaks suddenly or develops a small crack (stress fracture) after repetitive force, such as long-distance running
  • Ligament tear – Injury to soft tissue, such as the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) that stabilizes and supports your knee
  • Sprains and strains – Overstretched soft tissue, such as a sports hernia or pulled hamstring
  • Tendon injury – Tendonitis and tears in the tissue that connects muscle to bone
    • Includes Achilles tendonitis, golfer's elbow, jumper's knee, rotator cuff tear, swimmer's shoulder and tennis elbow

Nonsurgical Care

Whenever possible, care starts with conservative treatments. They require less downtime and have a lower risk of side effects than surgery, so you can return to play sooner.

Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation eases pain and helps you regain the use of an injured part of your body. At OSF HealthCare, you have access to a wide range of specialized therapies, including:

  • Aquatic therapy – Relieves pressure on your joints as you exercise in warm water
  • Hand therapy – Treats wrist, arm and finger injuries
  • Orthopedic therapy – Treats injuries to joints and soft tissues, such as ligaments and tendons
  • Physical therapy – Uses exercises, stretches and hands-on techniques to restore strength and flexibility
  • TMJ therapy – Helps you eat and speak better after a jaw injury

Regenerative Medicine (PRP Injections)

Ask your orthopedic doctor about platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections, which deliver a high dose of healing platelets from your blood to an injured area. To begin PRP therapy, a health care professional draws a small amount of blood from your body. The blood then goes through a procedure that increases the platelets, which have proteins that support healing. Finally, a doctor injects the platelet-enriched plasma into the injured area of your body to reduce pain and inflammation.

Concussion Management

If your physical activities put you at risk of a head injury, you may benefit from OSF HealthCare’s concussion services. Athletic trainers, physical therapists and other health professionals can provide:

  • Concussion baseline testing – Examines your mental abilities before the sports season starts and again after an injury to help doctors diagnose a brain injury
  • Educational programs – Teach coaches, school administrators, teachers, nurses, parents and students how to prevent and identify concussions
  • Concussion therapy – Helps you regain your full mental abilities and reduce headaches, dizziness and other symptoms

Joint Injections

Injections deliver medicine straight to the site of your injury. That means you can receive higher doses than you could take by mouth, and the medicine targets only the injured area of your body. Your doctor may use ultrasound to guide the injection. This makes treatment more effective. Ask about the right type of injection for your situation:

  • Cortisone (steroid) – Reduces inflammation
  • Hyaluronic acid (viscosupplementation) – Uses a gel to lubricate a stiff joint
  • Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) – Uses natural substances from your own body to speed up healing

Surgical Treatment for Sports Injuries

Surgery is sometimes the best treatment option for an athletic injury. Your surgeon will take the least invasive approach possible to treat your condition. Often, that means using an arthroscope—a tube with a light and camera that shows the inside of an injured joint. Arthroscopy requires only small incisions. So, you recover faster and more easily than you would after traditional surgery, which uses a long incision. You may even go home on the same day as treatment.

Learn more about surgery at OSF HealthCare.

Higher Education Partnerships

OSF HealthCare partners with select athletic departments to connect student-athletes with specialists in:

Bloomington

OSF HealthCare is the official health care provider for Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University athletics.

Robert Seidl, MD, serves as medical director, working closely with Karan Rai, MD.

Peoria

OSF HealthCare and Great Plain Orthopedics are the official sports medicine partners for Bradley Athletics.

Ask for a Referral

Ask your primary care doctor for a referral to a sports medicine specialist or rehabilitation therapist at OSF HealthCare. Need a primary care provider? Browse our directory.

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