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Sports Medicine

What is Sports Medicine?

Sports medicine is a specialized field that deals with the treatment and prevention of compromised health and/or injury related to professional and amateur athletes, as well as active individuals seeking to perform at their best and experience the highest level of health and wellness.

Sports medicine professionals assist their patients in maximizing performance while minimizing injuries. Similar to orthopedic surgeons, Sports Medicine doctors are skilled in musculoskeletal medicine. In sports medicine more than 85% of the sports related injuries are treated without surgery.

Musculoskeletal injuries include:

  • Ankle sprains, fractures, knee and shoulder injuries and muscle strains.
  • Rotator cuff, tendonitis and stress fractures.
  • Injection and medical treatment for osteoarthritis.

Other areas of expertise in Sports Medicine include:

  • Minor brain injuries and concussions.
  • Athletes with illnesses such as asthma and diabetes.
  • Sport nutrition, vitamin and food supplements, ergogenic, nootropics and performance nutraceuticals.
  • Prescriptive exercise plans.
  • Optimum programs for strength training and conditioning.

Why Testosterone Is Important?

Testosterone is the primary hormone in a class of hormones called androgens. Testosterone is the kingpin when it comes to its key part in building muscle, maintaining bone density and removing abdominal fat. Additionally, testosterone has many more tasks in the body and affects many other characteristics of health. In men, testosterone levels generally begin to decline after 30.

Ideal testosterone levels are key for professional as well as amateur athletes. Symptoms associated with low levels of testosterone include:

  • Diminished/lower sex drive.
  • Decline in strength and regularity of erections.
  • Reduced muscle mass.
  • Loss of strength and endurance in and out of the gym.
  • Depressive and dip in overall mood.
  • Lethargy, weakness and reaching fatigue state more quickly.
  • Decrease in bone density.
  • Unhealthy skin tone.

If you are experiencing any of the aforementioned symptoms, a simple blood test will give an accurate indication of where your testosterone levels are and especially if they are low. Low testosterone levels can qualify you as a candidate for testosterone replacement therapy.

Once your testosterone levels are brought back to normal, you may experience the following:

  • Rapid improvement in sex drive.
  • Being able to build and maintain lean muscle mass quicker.
  • Increase your bone density.
  • Reduction in wrinkles and enhanced skin tone.
  • Reduced abdominal body fat and overall improvement in weight loss.
  • Increase in healthy cholesterol levels.
  • Improved memory and may inhibit Alzheimer’s disease.
  • Defense and/or protection against diabetes.
  • Protection against heart disease and healthy blood pressure.
  • Overall improvement in quality of life and well-being.

What is Sports Endocrinology?

The Endocrine system is made up of different glands that are dispersed all through the body which discharge hormones into the blood stream. The secreted hormones act as chemical messengers, and influence a wide range of tissues, organs, which control various metabolic and physiological processes that occur in the body.

The different hormones that are made by the Endocrine system work in conjunction with each other providing a vast and complex network. The importance of a particular hormone is generally determined by its concentration in the blood, which is controlled by feedback loops.

As an example, if the concentration of circulating hormone is to great, a negative feedback loop will cause the control/release system to release less hormone and volume of circulating hormone will come back to a normal range.

How The Endocrine System and Hormone Production Affect Athletic Performance

Weight training and other types of resistance exercises increases the release of specific hormones that help the body adapt to stress. As an example, weight training and resistance training activates the release of growth hormone, which has a profound effect on improving bone density, lean muscle mass and decrease of visceral fat.

When an interruption of hormone production occurs, not only is athletic performance impaired, but the athlete is also at risk of potential long-term health issues.

Athletes who experiences a disruption in hormone production will suffer impaired sleep, loss n appetite and a relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), which will affect the whole body. As a result, there will be discord between dietary intake, quality of diet and the amount of energy that will be used up during training. This will put the Endocrine system into an energy sparing mode and negatively impact athletic performance, increase risk of injury and overall health.

Regrettably the advantageous effects of certain hormones that are used in athletic and sport performance are abused and/or used incorrectly, such as in the case of anabolic steroids, erythropoietin and growth hormone. Incorrectly administered exogenous hormones may not only impair the normal feedback loops, but can also impact health and cause disease from an overflow of endogenous hormone secretion.

Furthermore, as you can see, the Endocrine system and the circulating hormones are have significant roles not only as health support, but also in influencing athletic performance

At Florida Alternative Medicine and Weight Loss, we provide a comprehensive and personalized methodology to sports medicine. We will help treat your symptoms, diagnose the underlying problem, and create a complete plan to help you improve your athletic performance.