Treatments
Our team specializes in the non-operative and operative management of musculoskeletal injury and disease. Such injuries can be debilitating and prevent you from participating in your active everyday life. From expert physiotherapy, bracing, viscosupplementation all the way to surgery, we can help. Learn more about a specific treatment below.
Orthopaedic sports medicine focuses on diagnosing, treating, and preventing musculoskeletal injuries and conditions in athletes. In the field of orthopaedic sports medicine, the use of bracing has emerged as an indispensable tool for both injury prevention and post-injury management. Braces are orthopaedic devices designed to support, stabilize, and protect injured joints, ligaments, and muscles. They play a pivotal role in facilitating the rehabilitation process, allowing athletes to return to their respective sports safely.
The effectiveness of orthopedic bracing in sports medicine is well-documented. Numerous studies have shown that bracing can significantly benefit athletes by:
- Reducing the Risk of Injury: Prophylactic braces can help prevent injuries by providing support and stability to vulnerable areas, such as the ankle or knee.
- Enhancing Rehabilitation: Functional and rehabilitative braces assist in the recovery process by providing support without hindering necessary joint movement.
- Enabling Early Return to Play: Athletes recovering from injuries often use braces to safely return to sports activities as these devices offer protection and support. An example of this would be a custom ACL brace for patient who had non-operative care for an ACL injury or for those returning to sport following ACL reconstruction.
- Managing Chronic Conditions: Bracing is an essential component of managing chronic conditions like osteoarthritis, allowing individuals to maintain an active lifestyle with reduced pain.
- Improving Performance: In some cases, athletes with minor injuries or instability may wear braces to improve performance by increasing joint stability.
Joint injections are a minimally invasive treatment used to relieve pain and inflammation in affected joints, commonly those impacted by arthritis, injury, or degenerative conditions. These injections typically contain corticosteroids or other anti-inflammatory medications that target the joint directly, providing fast and localized relief from pain and swelling. Joint injections are often recommended for patients who have not found sufficient relief from oral medications or physical therapy alone. By reducing inflammation within the joint, these injections can improve mobility, enhance joint function, and offer patients a better quality of life with minimal downtime.
Physiotherapy, also known as physical therapy, is a branch of medicine that plays a crucial role in improving the quality of life for individuals suffering from various medical conditions, injuries, or disabilities. This multidisciplinary field combines the principles of anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics with specialized techniques to help patients regain or enhance their physical function and mobility. Physiotherapy employs specialized tools and apparatus to facilitate rehabilitation, enhance mobility, boost muscular strength, and facilitate the restoration of overall well-being. Rehabilitation plays a vital role in helping individuals recover from a wide range of health challenges.
Physiotherapy employs a wide range of techniques and modalities tailored to each patient’s specific needs. These techniques may include:
- Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques, such as joint mobilization and soft tissue manipulation, are used to improve joint mobility and reduce pain.
- Therapeutic Exercises: Customized exercise programs are designed to strengthen muscles, improve flexibility, and enhance overall functional capacity.
- Electrotherapy: Modalities like ultrasound, neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), and TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) are used for tissue healing, muscle strengthening and pain management, respectively.
- Aquatic Therapy: Immersion in water provides buoyancy, reducing the impact on joints while facilitating exercises for rehabilitation.
- Heat and Cold Therapies: Application of heat or cold is utilized to alleviate pain, reduce inflammation, and enhance circulation.
- Education and Counseling: PTs educate patients about their conditions, teach them self-management strategies, and provide guidance on injury prevention.
Viscosupplementation is an intra‐articular injection technique applied globally in orthopaedic practice to manage osteoarthritis (OA) in joints. Hyaluronic acid (HA) exerts a mechanical effect by providing lubrication of the joint and inhibits pain and inflammation. It also reduces programmed cell death in osteoarthritic cartilage. These benefits have made HA a commonly adopted bioactive molecule for intra‐articular therapy.
In healthy joints, HA acts as a shock absorber and lubricant, allowing smooth joint movement. However, in osteoarthritic joints, the concentration and quality of HA decrease, contributing to joint pain and inflammation. Viscosupplementation involves injecting a concentrated solution of high molecular weight HA directly into the affected joint to restore the lubricating synovial fluid and cushion the joint. The HA supplements the natural lubrication within the joint, reducing friction, dampening mechanical forces, and providing pain relief. Additionally, HA may have anti-inflammatory properties, further contributing to pain reduction.
While we attempt to optimize patient symptoms, function, and quality of life through a variety of non-operative treatment approaches, there are a subset of patients who will require surgical treatment. Dr Jas Chahal specializes in the shoulder, hip and knee arthroscopic and reconstructive procedures listed below. These procedures are performed on an out-patient basis at Women’s College Hospital. Following surgery, a personalized physical therapy program will allow you to return to sport and life activities in a safe and efficacious manner. You’re in expert hands.