Blog Archive
When pain occurs, whether in the feet, hips, or back, your first instinct may be to reach for a painkiller and go on with your day. However, painkillers only mask the symptoms, allowing you to continue functioning while the underlying cause of your symptoms persists. Poor posture and body mechanics...
Every year, millions of Americans head to the emergency room for treatment of orthopedic injuries. In fact, musculoskeletal injuries are the leading cause of injury-related health care visits in the United States. While some injuries can be treated with conservative options like physical therapy and medication, more serious or complex...
Stenosing tenosynovitis, commonly known as trigger finger, is inflammation in the tendons in your fingers and thumb that causes them to lock in a bent position facing your palm. In the flexed position, it looks like you’re ready to pull a trigger, hence the name. When you straighten the finger,...
When you experience an injury at work, it can be confusing and stressful. Not only do you have to deal with the pain of your injury, but navigating the workers’ compensation process is intimidating. That’s where we come in. At The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre, we see many Texans who...
Your knees (or hips or ankles) used to make their complaints after a few hours of running around, but now it seems like the joint pain and inflammation greet you the moment you get out of bed. If this sounds familiar, there are more than 53 million Americans who are...
Arthroscopic surgery, or arthroscopy, is a surgical procedure that allows an orthopedic surgeon to examine, diagnose, and possibly treat a joint problem. It’s a minor surgery that can be used on any joint but is most commonly used on knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists. This surgery is considered commonplace,...
Your feet and ankles are made up of a complex network of ligaments, tendons, and bones that all work to support your weight in perfect balance. Because of this, any damage to these integral pieces can make walking or moving around incredibly hard. Also, problems with your feet or ankles...
If you’re part of a sports team, you spend a lot of time practicing to develop your skills. This is true for every level of sports, from youth rec leagues to professional leagues. About 8.6 million people over 5 are injured playing sports in the U.S. every year. If you...
When people think about how their diet affects their health, most think about how it directly impacts their weight. Some might go deeper and consider the effects of diet on heart health, cholesterol, and diabetes. But few are aware of the link between food and bones. Missing that connection can...
Your wrists are extremely complex structures, composed of three separate joints and many bones, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. That complexity supports a wide range of movements — but it also means there are lots of ways for wrist injuries to occur. If you’re an athlete, you know you use your...
If you’re one of 70,000 people a year dealing with pain and tenderness where muscles attach to bones, then you’re probably dealing with tendonitis. This condition is common in people over 40, but anyone can find themselves dealing with the dull aches and mild swelling that often come with it....
As the largest joint in the body, your knee joint is subjected to lots of stress and strain throughout an average day, and even more strain during workouts. Since we rely so much on our knees, it’s no wonder injuries are so common. Like other orthopedic injuries, knee injuries can take a toll...
If you’re struggling with one of the over 100 of types of arthritis, you know just how painful and debilitating it can be to deal with the stiffness and limited range of motion that comes with this condition. You might be working with pain management specialists or chronic disease experts to help you...
Putting on your shoes may be part of your daily routine, but when your back begins giving you trouble, you may want to consider the shoes you wear. Back pain is quite common, especially if you stand on your feet for long hours. The talented orthopedic specialists at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre in...
ACL tears — the very thought sends shivers down an athlete’s spine, and for good reason. An unstable knee means virtually no movement for weeks, if not months. That is, until now. Athletes of all kinds in The Woodlands, Texas, area have trusted our team with one of their most valuable...
If it seems like just about everybody has some degree of joint pain, you’re not far off. About 70% of older adults (age 50-70) deal with joint pain, and most consider it a normal part of aging. However, aging doesn’t doom you to joint pain, and you don’t have to be an...
About a quarter of American adults suffer from chronic knee pain, with symptoms ranging from mild and nagging to severe and debilitating. While some chronic pain can develop after a knee injury or surgery, most persistent or recurrent knee pain symptoms are caused by arthritis, a degenerative and progressive disease...
You may think that ankle injuries are exclusive to athletes, but they can, and do, happen to all kinds of people. In fact, about 25,000 people sprain their ankle every day in the US, and about a million people land in the ER every year because of ankle trauma. At...
Whether you suffered an injury, or your back pain has been hanging around for some time, you need to get treatment to achieve relief. However, when conservative measures fail, spinal fusion may be the answer to your pain. At the The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre, located in Woodlands, Texas, our team...
Leading an active lifestyle is essential. Unfortunately, injuries in active people are common. When they affect your hand or wrist, they have a significant impact on your ability to stay active — for example, you can't swing a tennis racquet or play golf. To keep you active, our extensive team...
Millions of Americans suffer from chronic pain, including musculoskeletal pain affecting their joints. While physical therapy and even surgery can help relieve painful symptoms, bracing or orthotic devices (orthoses) provide a good alternative for many people who want to avoid surgery or need additional help with managing their pain. The Woodlands Sports Medicine...
Each year in the United States, there are 2.8 million workplace injuries or illnesses, which range from sprains and strains to cuts and lacerations. While the priority in these cases is your health, you also need to ensure that you’re covered during your time away from work. For peace of mind,...
You’re hobbled by a musculoskeletal issue, perhaps in your knee or shoulder, and you want the ability to move again without pain. You’ve tried conservative treatments that have come up short in relieving your chronic pain. It might be time to consider arthroscopy. As orthopedic specialists, the team here at The Woodlands Sports...
Stress fractures are common overuse injuries for active people, especially if you’re a runner. Running and walking stress the bones in your feet, which can lead to a small crack or bruise on your bone. But what you do after your injury impacts how long it takes to get back to...
Anyone can develop back pain, especially from traumatic events like car accidents and personal injuries. In fact, back pain is the leading cause of disability in people under 45. Unfortunately, the aging process can definitely play a role, too. That’s because, whether we like it or not, our spines undergo several age-related changes with...
Shoulder injuries are common, especially among people with physically demanding jobs or who play contact sports. However, if you’re in pain, there are several treatment options. Waiting it out can often worsen your injury. Below, we asked our experts at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre, located in The Woodlands, Texas, to...
If you’re struggling with sprained ankle pain, you’re far from alone. Every day in the US, some 25,000 people sprain an ankle. And while sprains aren’t as severe as fractures, these injuries can persist, worsen, and lead to long-term instability if you fail to take proper precautions. Our team at The Woodlands Sports Medicine...
Millions of Americans live with chronic pain. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 20% of American adults were living with chronic pain in 2019. Of those, 7% reported “high impact” pain that affected their ability to fully participate in social activities and work obligations. ...
Most people take their knees for granted. But it’s impossible to ignore these crucial joints when something goes wrong. Knee pain is a common and widespread problem, affecting people of all ages, genders, and walks of life. It can develop because of knee injuries, such as torn cartilage or ruptured...
You’ve been waking up in the morning with painful stiffness in your joints. Your fingers or knees just won’t unbend easily, making it hard to start your normal day. Perhaps you’re having joint pain in both wrists or ankles. These are some of the common signs of rheumatoid arthritis (RA),...
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a fairly common condition affecting about 3-6% of adults. And that isn't surprising since most of us work in offices, on computers, where we usually maintain the same position throughout the day. Carpal tunnel syndrome is an injury to the major nerve that runs through your...
Every year, millions of Americans seek medical care for shoulder injuries, including injuries related to sports and non-sports trauma. You depend on your shoulder for a lot of activities, including simple ones you probably don’t even think about — until your shoulder is injured. Seeking care at the first sign...
Spend any time among athletes and you’re bound to hear a story or two about knee surgery, more specifically anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repairs. And now you find yourself with an ACL tear of your own, and you’re wondering just how effective this approach is to restoring function to your...
Hip pain is often associated with aging, but you can experience a debilitating hip injury at any age. If left untreated, a labral tear can lead to persistent pain, stiffness, and limited range of motion. With proper diagnosis and imaging tests, your doctor can decide the best course of treatment...
From the tallest skyscrapers to the smallest shacks, for any structure to stand upright, it needs a sturdy skeleton. We, too, rely on an intricate system of bones to hold us up, protect our organs, and give us our shape. Instead of frames fortified with steel, our bones are made...
You know how it goes. You’re focused on your athletic activity, pushing for peak performance, and then you feel your ankle slip out from under you. When you land or come down wrong on an ankle, especially if you slip sideways, you could be dealing with a sprain for days...
Tendonitis is a common problem that can impact any tendons in your body. However, it’s most common in the elbows, shoulders, knees, and ankles. That’s because these fibrous bands of tissue connect your muscles to bones so you can move, and these areas get a lot of use every day....
Recovering from a fracture has a significant impact on your life. Also known as breaking a bone, a fracture is always a serious injury. Which bone or bones you broke will also have a significant impact on your recovery time. Bone fractures vary in severity, but most of them require...
Over the last half-century, there’s been a huge increase in the number of women playing sports at various levels. From the rec leagues to the pro leagues, countless women are achieving success on the field. Unfortunately, having a greater number of female athletes in play has revealed an unexpected challenge:...
Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the most common hand problems in the U.S., affecting between 4 million and 10 million people, according to the American College of Rheumatology. Carpal tunnel syndrome (or CTS) can affect just about anyone, but it’s more common among middle-aged people and women — in...
Perhaps you are in the heat of the moment, running or leaping in full swing, and you make one wrong move on the field. In that instant, you tear your ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). The injury produces a lot of pain, but it also makes you worry about how your...
When injury or illness affects your feet, ankles, knees, hips, or lower back, it can lead to a chain reaction of changes that alter how you walk, sit, stand, and move in general. Every adjustment your body makes to avoid pain or compensate for a dysfunctional limb or joint has...
You try to be careful on the job, no matter what your profession, but the thing about accidents is they happen despite all your best efforts and those of your employer to prevent them. In fact, about three million Americans are injured or fall ill on the job each year....
From Pee Wee football and Little League to weekend warrior pick-up games and all the way to collegiate and professional-level competition, sports injuries happen every day. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that sports injuries happen to Americans about 9 million times a year. Because sports...
Considering joint replacement surgery is an important step toward living a pain-free life, but the days and weeks leading up to your surgery can be filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Our team of expert surgeons at The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre wants to address your concerns, answer your questions, and...
Like any good foundation, your feet and ankles hold your entire body weight while providing a stable and reliable platform. What’s more, they perform that Herculean task while also allowing movement and flexibility, which adds a considerable degree of difficulty. So it’s not surprising, given the complexity of their jobs,...
If you’re living with arthritis, you know there are good days and bad days. But you can expect most mornings to feel about the same: lots of stiffness in your arthritic joints until you get moving. In case you didn’t catch that, the key phrase is “until you get moving.”...
Your body has the amazing ability to heal itself given enough time. Cuts and wounds in your skin fuse back into a smooth covering, burns scar over, viruses and bacteria meet their match in powerful antibodies, and broken bones knit together so your skeleton is as strong as it was...
If you find yourself facing hip replacement surgery, you’ve likely been living with pain and immobility for some time. Your surgery can give you a new lease on life, but you have to get through the recovery process first. To make the days and weeks following your surgery more comfortable...
When you think of orthotics, do you picture those prepackaged shoe inserts on the shelf at your drugstore? While those are technically orthotics, they represent only the tip of the iceberg. There are many different types, styles, sizes, and purposes of orthotics, and they can be a highly effective part...
Athletes are notorious for getting tendonitis, because they repeat certain motions over and over again in their sport. Each sport comes with risks to specific body parts, and when those body parts get tendonitis, it’s so prevalent that the condition is often named for the sport. For example, tennis players...
Your body is designed to withstand the normal wear-and-tear of everyday living and can even handle some not-so-normal abuse. But over time, it becomes less resilient and may not bounce back to full functionality. Your knees, the largest joints in your body, undergo an inordinate amount of stress as they...
Whether you slip and fall on a wet floor, get hit by a falling object, hurt yourself while lifting a heavy load, or experience any other type of accident while on the job, your immediate concern is stopping the pain. But soon afterward, you begin thinking about the ways this...
Arthroscopic surgery can arguably be called one of the major contributions to orthopedic medicine in the past century. It allows surgeons to avoid an invasive, open procedure and instead make a relatively small incision just big enough for a tiny camera. It’s a revolutionary innovation that lets doctors diagnose and...
Whether you’re a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior, or a spectator, you can easily end up with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in your knee. It’s common in sports because it happens when you stop or change direction suddenly, which happens in basketball, football, and many other sports. But...
The Woodlands Sports Medicine Centre gladly offers our services for you and all patients with urgent and emergent orthopedic complaints who do not have symptoms of COVID-19. Our goal, in this time of crisis, is to allow patients with primary orthopedic complaints to avoid congesting healthcare facilities (Emergency Rooms, Urgent...
Winter time is here, and while wintertime sports and activities are fun and festive, they can also be pretty dangerous. Many winter activities revolve around snow and ice, which can spell disaster for athletes. Additionally, the cold temperatures can exaggerate the severity of many injuries. However, there are a variety...
Common Workplace Injuries and Qualifying for Workman’s Comp Occupational injury or illness effects 1 out of 100 full-time workers annually. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s over 1 million work-related injury and illness cases per year. Especially in high-risk jobs that require the use of heavy equipment or...
Hand and wrist injuries account for approximately 25% of all sports injuries and are some of the most common injuries that athletes experience. Injuries of the hand and wrist can make daily tasks difficult both on and off the field. Prompt intervention is key when it comes to sports injuries, so knowing...
Poor posture is one of the top underlying causes of lower back pain. Whether you sit at a desk all day or are a professional athlete, poor posture could be the cause of that never-ending ache in your back. Try implementing the following exercises and stretches recommended by sports medicine doctors to reduce...
Joints are the connections between bones that provide the support and range of motion that we need to run, walk, jump, and move. If you begin to experience achy joints that make every day movement painful, it can go from mildly irritating to completely debilitating. While acute injury can be...
October is National Physical Therapy Month The American Physical Therapy Association names October as National Physical Therapy Month, and we’re ready to celebrate! The goal for this month is to “[optimize] movement to enhance the human experience” through the wonders of physical therapy. The commemoration is meant to benefit the community while also showing...
Dear Dr.Qadir,I’m so grateful with the surgery you did. It’s amazing how fast I started to walk again and not having pain as usual. The way I broke my pelvis in the car accident on June 5 and everything else so for I’m doing better now. Thankful for the passion...
If you have suffered from back pain before, then you know it can greatly affect your day to day quality of life. Back pain is a common type of chronic pain that most people will experience at some point in their lives. Sometimes back pain can be the result of...
The knee is the largest joint in our bodies, so knee pain can be immensely painful and debilitating. It affects virtually all physical actions, making it hard to perform daily functions. Many choose to permanently treat the issue with surgery. There are a wide variety of surgical options when it comes to...
Stretching is an immensely important part of any athlete’s routine. It conditions and nourishes the muscles that you use repeatedly. Stretching can be an effective method to combat your risk of future injuries out on the field as it increases muscle and joint mobility. There are countless benefits to daily stretching such as...
The wrist is made up of a complicated combination of ligaments, bones, tendons, joints, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. When something goes wrong in any part of the wrist, it can cause pain, swelling, or loss of function. When other treatments, including rest, medication, or physical therapy, do not help, arthroscopic...
The average person will suffer two fractures in his/her lifetime. Children and older adults typically suffer more fractures than other age-groups, and fractures can be caused by a variety of different reasons. As adults age, the bones become more brittle and balance becomes less stable. Rather than bouncing back from...
The Opioid Crisis presents an immediate and impactful threat towards the athletic community. Opioids are extremely powerful drugs that can be highly addictive. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), death rates from opioid overdoses have skyrocketed in recent years, tripling between 1999 and 2016. In fact, between 2015 and 2016, the...
The number of hip replacements performed in the U.S. have more than doubled in the past decade. In fact, a recent study shows the average number of hip replacements increased from 138,700 to 310,000 during this time. The highest reported age group, 45-54, has risen by 205 percent, and even some athletes...
With the popularity of running on the rise, many of us are left to navigate its complex and often confusing domain filled with its conflicting advice and opinions about the do’s and don’ts. Topics such as stretching, diet, and proper gear have been exhausted to a mess of contrasting information...
Knee injuries are very common, especially among athletes. In 2010, over 10 million people visited the doctor due to knee pain or injury. In fact, from 2005-2015, the rate of ACL injuries in children and teens increased almost 148 percent. So, what is the reason behind these escalating numbers and why is this injury...
I recently had a patella repair performed by Dr. Kevin Smith and he did an excellent job. Very caring and professional. Highly recommend his work.– Sharon Par
My mother, Geneva M. Gilchrist, is wheelchair bound and a resident of Broadmoor at Creekside Park continuous care facility. We have an audio/video system in her room to help monitor her condition and care. A kidney stone about the size of her kidney causes repeated urinary tract infections. As you...
Foot and ankle injuries include the injuries in the leg below the knee and they are common while playing sports such as football, hockey, skating and in athletes. Treatment for some of these conditions may be orthotics, braces, physical therapy, injections or surgery. Common sports injuries include sprains and strains,...
Sports injuries occur when playing indoor or outdoor sports or while exercising. Sports injuries can result from accidents, inadequate training, improper use of protective devices, or insufficient stretching or warm-up exercises. The most common sports injuries are sprains and strains, fractures, and dislocations.