Sports Medicine

For athletes and active people, injuries can be frustrating, sidelining you from sports and everyday activities. Our sports medicine specialists offer care to treat injuries, maximize performance and prevent future injuries.

Sports Medicine: Why Choose Trinity Health Of New England?

Our team, which includes highly trained primary care sports medicine doctors, orthopedic surgeons and other health care professionals, understands the unique needs of athletes. We focus on helping you perform at your highest possible level. You’ll find:

Specialized expertise: Our providers have advanced training in sports medicine, orthopedic surgery, primary care and athletic trauma. With years of experience, we’re experts in diagnosing and treating sports injuries, chronic orthopedic conditions and other health conditions that affect sports participation.
Personalized treatment: Every person’s body is different, and that’s why we tailor your treatment plan to your needs, fitness level and performance goals. We use nonsurgical treatments whenever possible for safe, effective care to relieve symptoms and help you reach your performance goals.
Comprehensive surgical services: If nonsurgical methods aren’t enough, our orthopedic surgeons offer advanced, minimally invasive arthroscopic and surgical
Complete postoperative care: We help you get back to your active life with personalized rehab and physical therapy regimens to speed your recovery. You can see physical and occupational therapists at Trinity Health Of New England and in the community, for your convenience.
A high level of care for all athletes: The same providers who care for the region's professional, college and high school sports teams also see you and your young athlete. You receive expert treatment to heal injuries and prevent future problems.
Coordinated care: From your first visit through diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up, you see a team of sports medicine specialists who manage your care. For your other health needs, we coordinate your care with providers across Trinity Health Of New England.
Research to improve care: Our dedicated orthopedics research team tracks how our patients do as a result of the care we provide. This data allows us to continually improve our approaches to treatments to ensure the best possible results.

Sports Medicine: Nonsurgical Treatments and Services

Most sports injuries require only conservative treatment, such as medications, injections, bracing and physical therapy. Our sports medicine providers offer these services and other nonsurgical treatments for active people — from student athletes and weekend warriors to elite athletes and professional teams:

Occupational and physical therapy: After an injury, orthopedic rehabilitation can relieve pain and help you regain strength, mobility and function for daily activities.
Find out more about physical and occupational therapy
Injections: Corticosteroid injections, trigger point injections, nerve blocks and other injections can relieve pain and swelling due to certain injuries.
Concussion care: We evaluate head injuries and symptoms to diagnose concussions and provide care to manage pain, dizziness and other symptoms at. You can find our concussion care at Saint Francis Hospital and Saint Mary's Hospital.
Sports medicine services: Our sports medicine providers help ensure safe sports participation with services that include:
- Pre-participation physicals to ensure that student athletes are fit to play
- Injury prevention and rehabilitation programs, in coordination with schools’ athletic trainers
- Sideline evaluation of athletes injured during play
- Personalized return-to-play pathways for each person and each injury
- Support and advice for local and regional walking and running clubs, including the Hartford Marathon Foundation, to help participants stay healthy and active

Orthopedic Sports Medicine Surgery

Sometimes, nonsurgical treatment may stop working for you, or you may have a more serious injury. If you need surgery, our experienced orthopedic surgeons offer advanced minimally invasive arthroscopic and open surgical techniques.

Most of our surgeries are outpatient procedures, so you can go home the same day. Your surgeon will discuss options with you to determine the right procedure for your needs.
Learn about orthopedic surgery

Minimally invasive surgery: Minimally invasive techniques typically use a few small incisions rather than a long incision. With these procedures, you may experience less pain, a lower risk of complications and a shorter recovery time. Minimally invasive procedures available at Trinity Health Of New England include:
- Arthroscopy: Our surgeons use a scope (a thin instrument with a tiny camera) and other miniature instruments to examine and treat tissue inside joints. We use arthroscopy to treat a wide range of injuries in almost every joint.
- Percutaneous fracture fixation: Complex fractures may require surgery and hardware to align and connect bones. Surgeons make small incisions and reposition the pieces of bone using imaging to guide them. They attach screws, rods or other hardware to hold bones in place. We sometimes use arthroscopic techniques in these procedures.
Open surgery: Open (traditional) surgery, with usually one incision, can provide more effective treatment for many injuries. At Trinity Health Of New England, we perform open surgery for:
- Joint replacements: Some chronic sports injuries can cause joints to deteriorate over time and require joint replacement surgery for hips, knees and shoulders. Learn more about joint replacement surgery and the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute (CJRI).
- Revision surgery: Our surgeons perform revision surgeries using open techniques to address complications that developed after a previous surgery or replace worn-out artificial implants.
- Tendon and ligament repair: Certain tendon and ligament injuries require open surgery. Surgeons may repair, reconstruct or reattach tendons or ligaments to bones and muscles.
- Fracture repair: Severe fractures may require open surgery to reposition bones and place hardware to stabilize them for proper healing.