Who is a Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialist?
A pediatric sports medicine specialist is a health care professional that specializes in treating illnesses or injuries that affect exercise, activity, or sports performance in children and young adults. When growing, children can develop medical problems or sustain injuries in their muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments. These are musculoskeletal conditions that can affect any child. However, the conditions are different from those of older patients.
A pediatric sports medicine specialist has special training, expertise, and qualifications to handle such problems. This enables them to take care of the special, sports-related medical needs of teens and children.
Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialist Training
This specialist is a medical doctor with at least for years of undergoing training in a medical school. They also have additional three years of training in general pediatric residency. What’s more, some pediatric sports medicine specialists have one to two additional fellowship sports medicine training. Some even have Certification of Added Qualification acquired by seating the American Board of Pediatrician exam. And on top of this, pediatric sports medicine specialists have practical experience.
Treatment Provided by Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialists
Pediatric sports medicine specialists specialize in diagnosing, treating and managing medical and musculoskeletal problems of teens and children.
These include:
- Dislocations
- Strains and sprains
- Apophysitis
- Minor avulsions and fractures
- Ligament injuries
- Tendinitis
- Cartilage injuries
- Overuse injuries
- Diabetes
- Exercise-induced asthma
- Eating disorders
- Supplement and nutrition issues
- Concussions
- Heat illness
- Stress fractures
- Unique health conditions that relate to special needs of athletes
You can find a pediatric sports medicine specialist in almost any medical setting. However, they are commonly found in children’s hospitals, large community hospitals, university medical centers, sports medicine clinics, orthopedic clinics, multispecialty groups, and private practice clinics.
When to See a Pediatric Sports Medicine Specialist
Your child’s pediatrician will suggest they see a pediatric sports medicine specialist after examining them. This can happen when the pediatrician realizes that your child needs specialized examination and treatment for their condition. The pediatrician can also recommend a pediatrician sports medicine specialist for your child.