Advances in orthopedics and sports medicine mean that the injuries that used to sideline anyone with a hint of gray hair can now be fixed. With an eye to prevention, baby boomers can stay on the playing field for years.
But it doesn’t mean they won’t hurt themselves. When injury prevention fails, medicine is increasingly able to keep ailments from ending an athlete’s run.
“When I was in training 25 or 30 years ago, if you were over 40 and had an anterior cruciate ligament tear, you got a brace and you lived with it,” says Nicholas DiNubile, an orthopedic surgeon and author of “FrameWork: Your 7-Step Program for Healthy Muscles, Bones, and Joints.” “Surgery was a major intervention; the results weren’t that great, and recovery took six months or a year.” No longer. Thanks to new technology, ACL reconstructions can be done with a 1-inch incision, and age is no longer a limiting factor. “If you’d have told me years ago I’d be operating on a 60-year-old, I wouldn’t have believed you,” he says.
Here’s some advice on what to do if you have the common ailments listed below, offered by DiNubile; Scott Rodeo, an orthopedic surgeon and researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York; and Andrew Chen, an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon in New Hampshire and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
As a rule of thumb, they say, if you feel sharp or stabbing pain (as opposed to sore muscles) during activity, stop. If the pain doesn’t go away after a few days off and some ice, seek medical advice.
Here are more specific guidelines for the injuries doctors see most often:
Rotator cuff injuries
The four muscles that sit right above your shoulder joint can get caught between the bones in the shoulder and upper arm, causing tendinitis and eventually a tear.
Who gets it: Weightlifters, swimmers, tennis players, volleyball players, baseball pitchers
Ways to prevent it: Ask a trainer to make sure your weight routine works all the rotator cuff muscles, not just the front part.
How to fix it: Until it’s healed, avoid aggravating it with repetitive motion or overhead weightlifting. If it doesn’t get better with time, you may need surgery.
The latest treatment: Having blood drawn before surgery to isolate growth-factor-containing platelets. The platelets are concentrated into something resembling a wad of chewing gum, which is put into the cuff to speed healing.
Elbow tendinitis
Repetitive motion can cause tendinitis on either side of the elbow.
Who gets it: Tennis players (tennis elbow), racquetball and squash players, fencers, golfers (golfer’s elbow)
Ways to prevent it: Ask a coach or a pro to make sure your technique is correct. One wrong move, repeated hundreds of times, can easily cause injury.
How to fix it: Surgery usually isn’t necessary, but you may need to wear a brace or splint while you’re healing.
The latest treatment: The same platelet-concentrating technique used to treat rotator cuff problems.
Knee arthritis
The cartilage in the knee breaks down, allowing the bones to rub together.
Who gets it: Could be anybody. One likely cause is “malalignment,” where the upper and lower legs don’t line up correctly. Being bowlegged or knock-kneed can also make cartilage damage more likely.
Ways to prevent it: Your doctor may prescribe physical therapy. Regular exercise can also help strengthen and balance the body.
How to fix it: Avoid high-impact activities; it may be worth swapping running for in-line skating. In the most debilitating cases, a knee replacement is the best option, but once you’ve got an artificial joint, you’ve got to treat it tenderly – no more full-court basketball.
The latest treatment: Gender-specific knee replacements the manufacturer claims will allow for differences in size and bone structure
Hip arthritis
Cartilage in the hip breaks down, allowing the bones to rub together.
Who gets it: As with arthritis of the knee, malalignment, genetics, age, and old injuries all may play a part.
Ways to prevent it: Stay slim. Extra weight burdens the joints.
How to fix it: To prevent its damaging effects and stave off a full joint replacement for as long as possible, cut out the pounding workouts like aerobics, and do lower-impact exercises such as swimming or cycling to keep your weight down and get blood circulating.
The latest treatment: Hip-resurfacing surgery doesn’t require removal of the top of the femur the way a total replacement does. Instead, the surgeon shaves off just the top of the femur and covers it with a metal cap. Sparing the bone means a full replacement can always be done later, if necessary.
Knee cartilage tear
The cartilage in your knee rips.
Who gets it: Anyone who squats. In sports, that would be baseball catchers, weightlifters, and football players.
Ways to prevent it: Protect your knees by building up your quads with cycling.
How to fix it: Surgeons often remove the damaged part of the meniscus, the cartilage that cushions your knee.
The latest treatment: A collagen scaffold, which is attached to the remaining meniscus and allows new tissue to grow, is available in Europe. It’s still being studied for use in the United States.
ACL tear
The anterior cruciate ligament, which runs diagonally through the knee joint, tears.
Who gets it: All kinds of athletes, but women are especially vulnerable – possibly because of their hip structure, as well as differences in strength and conditioning.
Ways to prevent it: Try tai chi to improve your balance.
How to fix it: Surgery is common if the ACL is torn and the knee is unstable.
The latest treatment: Rather than replacing the torn ACL with one bundle of tendon fibers, some doctors use two bundles, to more closely mimic the anatomy of the original ligament.
Achilles tendinitis
Tendons lose their elasticity with age, making them vulnerable to irritation and inflammation.
Who gets it: Runners, especially older ones. Ramping up the volume or intensity-especially by running up and down hills-can lead to Achilles problems.
Ways to prevent it: Stretch your calves. Ask a trainer to teach you how to stretch the soleus, the smaller muscle that runs down the back of your calf.
How to fix it: Rest. Use ice and possibly anti-inflammatories.
The latest treatment: Research suggests that “eccentric training;” using heavy loads – in this case, certain calf exercises that lengthen the muscles as they are trying to contract – can improve the pain and disability of Achilles tendinitis.
Lower back pain
Back muscles get strained, disks degenerate, and nerves are pinched.
Who gets it: Who doesn’t? A full 80 percent of the population can expect to experience significant back pain at some point.
Ways to prevent it: Your mother was right: Watch your posture. That can fend off strain and pain.
How to fix it: Treatment runs the gamut from light exercise and a heating pad to major surgery, depending on the severity and type of pain.
The latest treatment: Studies suggest that surgery helps people with degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis (a condition in which a vertebra slips out of alignment, eventually causing the spinal column to narrow and pinching nerves). People with sciatica – pain caused by a disk pressing against a nerve – are apt to get better over time, with or without surgery.
