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Sport & Exercise Medicine guides
22 plain-English, evidence-linked guides in Sport & Exercise Medicine, with clinical review status shown on each page.
Back pain assessment (Clinical assessment of low back pain and sciatica)A clinic appointment to work out the likely cause of your back pain, check for the rare serious signs, and agree a plan to get you moving and recovering.Barbotage for calcific tendinopathy (Ultrasound-guided percutaneous needle barbotage (lavage and aspiration))An ultrasound-guided needle procedure that flushes and aspirates a calcium deposit in a tendon (most often in the shoulder rotator cuff). It may help selected patients, but sham-controlled evidence has questioned how much benefit comes from the lavage itself, so expectations should be cautious.Bone health and RED-S assessment (Assessment of low energy availability, bone health and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs))A careful, non-judgemental assessment of whether you are getting enough fuel for your training and daily life, and how this is affecting your bones, hormones and overall health.Concussion assessment and management (Concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) assessment and graduated return to activity)A checking-over and management plan after a knock to the head, to spot dangerous injuries, confirm concussion, and bring you safely back to school, work and sport.Exercise prescription (Exercise prescription (exercise as medicine))A tailored plan that uses physical activity as a treatment — to improve health, manage a long-term condition, or recover from injury — set up with sensible safety checks.High-volume injection for tendinopathy (High-volume image-guided injection for tendinopathy)An ultrasound-guided injection of a relatively large volume of fluid (usually saline and local anaesthetic, sometimes with a small dose of steroid) around a painful tendon, used as an adjunct for stubborn tendinopathy — with mixed and limited evidence.Hip and groin pain assessment (Clinical assessment of hip and groin pain)A clinic appointment to work out why your hip or groin hurts, what is likely causing it, and what to do about it — from muscle and tendon strains to joint problems.Joint and ligament injury assessment (Clinical assessment of a joint or ligament injury)A clinical assessment of an injured joint or ligament to work out what is damaged, whether the joint is stable, and what rehabilitation or, occasionally, further treatment is needed.Knee pain assessment (Clinical assessment of knee pain)A clinical assessment of knee pain to work out the likely cause — from overuse and anterior knee pain to ligament, cartilage or arthritis problems — and to plan the right treatment.Musculoskeletal assessment (Musculoskeletal (MSK) assessment)A structured examination of your muscles, joints, tendons and movement to work out what is causing a problem and guide the next steps, often without needing a scan.Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injectionAn injection of a concentrate made from a sample of your own blood into or around a painful tendon, sometimes offered for stubborn tendon problems — an adjunct with mixed evidence, not a proven cure.Pre-participation sports medical screening (Pre-participation evaluation (sports medical screening))A medical check before taking up or continuing sport, mainly to look for hidden heart conditions and injury risks — with honest limits on what screening can and cannot find.Prolotherapy (Prolotherapy (proliferation therapy))A course of injections of an irritant solution (most often a sugar solution, hypertonic dextrose) into or around a painful tendon, ligament or joint, intended to provoke a healing response — an adjunct with limited and mixed evidence, not a proven cure.Return-to-sport assessment (Return-to-sport / return-to-play assessment)A structured check, after injury or illness, to judge whether you are ready to return to training and competition safely — and how to stage that return.Running injury assessment and gait analysis (Assessment of running-related injury, including running (gait) analysis)An assessment of a running-related injury that combines history, examination and a look at how you run, to find the cause and plan a sensible return to running.Shockwave therapy (ESWT) (Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT))A non-invasive treatment that passes acoustic shockwaves through the skin to a painful tendon or fascia, sometimes used for stubborn problems such as plantar fasciitis or Achilles or elbow tendinopathy when rehabilitation alone has not settled them.Shoulder pain assessment (Clinical assessment of shoulder pain)A clinical assessment of shoulder pain to work out the likely cause — from rotator cuff problems and impingement to frozen shoulder or instability — and to plan the right treatment.Sport and exercise medicine consultation (Sport and exercise medicine (SEM) consultation)An appointment with a sport and exercise medicine specialist — a non-surgical doctor — to assess a muscle, joint or activity-related problem and agree a plan, usually built around rehabilitation rather than an operation.Sports injury assessment (Sport and exercise medicine assessment and management of a sports or activity-related injury)A clinical assessment of a sport or activity-related injury to work out what is hurt, how serious it is, and what rehabilitation will help it recover.Stress fracture assessment (Assessment of a suspected bone stress injury or stress fracture)An assessment of a suspected stress fracture — an overuse injury where bone is loaded faster than it can repair — to confirm it, find out why it happened, and plan safe recovery.Tendinopathy treatment (tennis elbow, Achilles, patellar) (Tendinopathy management)Non-surgical management of painful, overused tendons such as tennis elbow, Achilles and patellar (jumper's knee) tendinopathy, where a gradual loading and rehabilitation programme is the mainstay.Ultrasound-guided injection (Ultrasound-guided injection (image-guided joint/soft-tissue injection))An injection placed precisely using ultrasound to guide the needle — often to confirm where pain comes from and to give temporary relief as part of a wider plan, rather than a cure.
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