OMAHA (KMTV) — Not only does the start of the fall sports season bring intense matchups but also the potential for injuries.
According to Johns Hopkins, there are at least 3.5 million sports-related injuries every single year.
Dr. Amard Abcejo or Dr. AJ as he goes by, is a primary sports medicine physician for OrthoNebraska.
Besides the dozens of knee and shoulder injuries he sees throughout the year, Dr. AJ has noticed an uptick in certain types of injuries in the past five years alone.
"One thing I've definitely noticed that stemmed all different age ranges right now is hips," said Abcejo. "So I'll see a lot of hip injuries, both at the high school level, collegiate level, recreational runner and well into arthritic ages as well."
To combat that and other injuries, Dr. AJ recommends a fairly new treatment called platelet-rich plasma or PRP.
"I always joke with my patients compared to surgery, yes, it's a lot less invasive," Abcejo said. "Yes, it's a needle poke. Yes, it's an injection. So I tell them we usually take their own blood. It's like donating. From there, it's just the actual injection of whatever we're injecting. So say a shoulder joint, a knee joint or an elbow or something else like that."
But if PRP, surgery or another other medical treatment is not feasible, Dr. AJ recommends some R & R, especially for those trying to compete year round.
"So say football is their main sport and basketball is more recreational for them," said Abcejo. "I would say we utlitize a little bit more of that winter months get more of that rehab time that we're looking for."
