Your daughter has a plan in place.
After having shoulder surgery just a few days before Christmas, your daughter followed all of the instructions of the surgeon. She kept her arm basically immobile in a sling and made sure that she kept all of the bandages on as directed. Once the initial part of the recovery was over, she was diligent about following the other directions as well. She limited her movements, did no lifting with that arm, and was careful not to lift her arm higher than was allowed.
Five months after the surgery, she is now following the sports doctors instructions and is going into the physical therapy center two times a week. She is doing all of the required exercises out of the office as well, and is making sure that she does not overdo any of the allowed strength training.
For a college gymnast who is trying to be able to compete during her senior year, having this kind of patience is not easy. It is also not easy to think about the long road to recovery that she still has ahead of her. With this in mind, she even has one more step in her plan. She is coaching a local rec team during the summer. She knows that this comeback will require strength, patience, endurance, and a continued love for this sport. She is certain that if she spends even a couple hours a week with these young gymnasts she will, through their eyes, remember all of the reasons why she fell in love with this sport in the first place. She hopes this love will push her through what she knows will be some challenging months this senior year.
The doctor at her hometown orthopaedic practice has not promised her that the short term repair will hold out, but he has promised her that he has done everything in his power to give her a fighting chance.
Orthopaedic Practices Offer Many Athletes a Second Chance
Sports medicine clinics offer hope to athletes who have been injured. With a combination of surgery, and recommendations for physical therapy, orthopaedic doctors allow athletes to continue to pursue their dreams, and while not all solutions are permanent, some offer college athletes an opportunity to finish out one or two more seasons of doing what they love the most.
In addition to athletes, orthopaedic practices also offer pain relieve and a better quality of life for non athletes who have suffered an injury. Consider some of these latest statistics about the services that many of these clinics offer to patients:
- 4.7 million Americans were living with an artificial knee in the year 2014, according to research presented to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons that year.
- 2.5 million Americans were living with an artificial hip in the year 2014, according to research presented to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons that year.
- Medicare approved payments for 3.04 million orthotic procedures, accounting for more than $1 billion in Medicare spending, as of 2016.
- One in seven Americans now has an orthopedic impairments, a statistic that is easier to understand when you realize that the U.S. population is aging.
- The average life expectancy in the U.S. increased from 68 years in the year 1950 to 79 years in the year 2013.
- The number of Americans ages 65 and older will double from the 46 million that was reported in 2016 to more than 98 million by the year 2060.
Whether you are a college gymnast trying to rehab back for a final season of competition or you are a non athlete who is simply trying to find a way to continue enjoy your favorite past times like gardening and golfing, an orthopaedic practice is likely the place that you will go to see what options are available to you.