Whether a seasoned athlete, a sports enthusiast or someone who likes to keep active, everyone is susceptible to injury. See an expert and get an accurate diagnosis to speed your recovery
If you are suffering from a sports injury, or another type of orthopaedic injury, our Circle Health Group orthopaedic surgeons can help.
The multidisciplinary Sports and Exercise Medicine team at The London Independent Hospital in Stepney, East London, provides fast access to expert-led assessment, diagnosis, treatment, support and advice. We can help elite and amateur athletes, sportspeople and active individuals aged 18 and over.
In addition to providing treatment for sports injuries, our specialists can tailor an exercise programme for you to improve your health, treat an illness or help manage or ease symptoms of a chronic condition.
As well as working with MSK problems, our Sports and Exercise Medicine team also manages and treats problems with soft tissues (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) that may be affecting or limiting your athletic performance.
Our priority is to get you back to better health and fitness as quickly and safely as possible and to give you the support you need to remain active and injury-free in the future.
If you would like to meet one of our team to discuss treatment options for a sports injury, whether it occurred recently or a while ago, we can provide fast access to a London consultant at a time that is convenient for you.
You can book an appointment yourself via our website or you can phone us on 020 7780 2400 to arrange your visit.
These are injuries that happen suddenly — like having a fall, twisting a joint or receiving a hard blow to the body. These are all common in many types of sports, particularly contact sports and those involving sudden, sharp changes in direction.
While significant sports injuries (e.g. a fracture or dislocation) will often have been treated by the NHS through Accident & Emergency, our consultants can see you at The London Independent Hospital for a second opinion or to manage your treatment from that point on.
These are long-term problems that may not be directly caused by a sports injury but are limiting performance in some way. Two examples are groin pain and shin splints.
Often the underlying cause of a chronic problem will not have been diagnosed to date.
Unfortunately, many people find that accessing this help elsewhere can be time-consuming. Appointments with a doctor or for a diagnostic scan may end up days, weeks or many months apart, prolonging the time they are not able to compete or participate in their chosen sport or exercise programme.
Delays in accessing consultant-led treatment for a sports injury can be frustrating, particularly for people who value and prioritise their health and fitness. The longer they have to wait for diagnosis and treatment, the more their fitness, aerobic capacity, strength and sports-specific skills will usually decrease.
By opting for private care at The London Independent, you can avoid these frustrating delays and benefit from fast access to cutting-edge rehabilitation and treatment, tailored to your requirements and preferred timelines.
This approach can help get you back to playing the sports you enjoy at a much earlier date than may be possible elsewhere.
Listed below are some of the common sports-related injuries we see at The London Independent, but this is not meant to be an exhaustive list.
Although often used interchangeably, a sprain is caused by trauma and is a stretching or tearing of a ligament while a strain may be from acute trauma or repetitive movement and is a small tear to a muscle or tendon.
Examples related to sports and exercise include a sprained ankle and groin strain.
The surfaces of the bones in a joint are lined with a thin layer of cartilage which allows the bones to move over one another without friction. If the cartilage is damaged from a sports injury or a disease like arthritis, it can become painful and stiff when moving the joint.
Usually, but not always, the severity of these symptoms will correlate to the extent of cartilage damage.
The knee contains two crescent-shaped menisci. Made of cartilage, these act as shock-absorbers in the joint. A tear in one or both can cause pain, stiffness and problems moving the knee.
Ligaments are bands of connective tissue that connect bones in a joint together. Torn ligaments are quite common in sports like rugby and football, which involve sudden, violent forces being placed upon the joints.
One of the most common ligaments damaged due to sports is the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), one of four main ligaments in the knee.
A high impact force to a bone may cause a break in the bone. This is known as a fracture. Different types of fracture include greenstick, spiral, hairline, compound and stress.
Some of the fractures we see following a sports injury are:
Damaged blood vessels form a discolouration under the skin. Knocks, falls and bumps during sports like rugby, skiing or football are all common causes of bruising.
Often the bruise will fade naturally over time as the body heals, but more extensive bruising may need medical treatment.
Occurs when a joint slips out of its normal position. Common dislocations from sports are shoulder dislocation and hip dislocation. Knee dislocation may also occur but this is much less common.
As a joint dislocates, it will often cause damage to the muscles, ligaments and tendons around the joint, which may then need treatment or repair.
Whether your injury is listed above or not, if you are in pain with, limited from or concerned by an injury related to sports or exercise, our experienced team can help you.
Book a private consultation at a time that is convenient for you for fast access to assessment and treatment options.
Some people visit us for help at The London Independent Hospital very quickly after an injury, often within a day or two. Others will have had a sports injury several weeks or months previously and have been struggling on through any discomfort before they come to see us.
Whether your injury is recent or not, a private consultation with one of the specialists in our Sports and Exercise Medicine team can help give you clarity about treatment and recovery.
During your consultation, your consultant will talk with you in detail about your injury. They will want to know:
They will also talk with you about the sports and activities you do regularly, your current level of fitness and what level you hope to be able to get back to after treatment.
They will normally carry out a clinical examination of the affected area, looking at how easily and fully you can move it and any nearby joints, and whether there are any changes in sensation or imbalances in strength or muscle tone.
This may be all that is needed to confirm a diagnosis, but often additional diagnostic investigations may be needed.
The Imaging Centre at The London Independent Hospital provides some of the most advanced and comprehensive imaging in the South East, including cardiac MRI, specialist imaging-guided injection treatments and the UK’s first 128-slice CT scanner.
Through the Sports and Exercise Medicine team, we can provide you with fast access to diagnostic investigations when needed. Our in-house team of radiologists provide rapid reporting of scans so that your consultant can confirm a diagnosis sooner.
Once any results are back with your consultant, they will explain them to you and discuss treatment options with you.
Before any treatment, your consultant will also talk with you about what you can realistically expect from your treatment. They will make sure you have a clear understanding of the time it may take you to recover and the extent to which you will recover.
While many people with a sports injury can make a full recovery, others may not be able to participate at the level they previously did. Recovery varies for each person and can be affected by age, the location of the injury and the severity of it.
Many sports injuries can often be managed with non-operative treatments. These include:
Where non-operative treatments are not able to relieve your symptoms or resolve the problem sufficiently, surgery may be an option.
Surgery available at The London Independent Hospital includes:
Many more types of surgery are available at The London Independent Hospital for a range of sports injuries. Your consultant will discuss any suitable options with you to ensure you receive the treatment that is most appropriate to your fitness goals.
The people we see through this provision are (or were before their injury!) nearly always incredibly active with a good awareness of their body.
If you are an athlete, you will often be more aware of your body than people who live more sedentary lives. While to many people you may appear to still be quite functional and active, you will know when something feels off and your body just isn’t responding to or recovering from exercise like you would expect it to.
A particular challenge faced by healthy individuals while recovering from an injury is to properly pace themselves and not rush their recovery. For people with mental toughness and used to pushing their bodies to extremes, this can be an uncomfortable — and unwelcome — thing to be told!
By way of example, if you are an ultramarathon runner who is used to pushing yourself through mental blocks that would stop most people in their tracks, you may find it hard to accept that for a period of time you need to slow down, rest and allow your body to recover properly.
This is why every member of the Sports and Exercise Medicine team you meet will emphasise the importance of a proper recovery. While their advice may not always be what you want to hear, it will always be focused on helping you to regain your exercise capacity as fully as possible.
The Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons in the team are:
Our team of experienced orthopaedic consultants is supported in their work by fast access to specialists in other fields of medicine and healthcare.
Streamlined triage at the hospital ensures fast access to a consultant. If help is needed by a specialist in another area such as radiology, ENT, cardiology or oral & maxillofacial surgery, this can be easily arranged for you on-site at The London Independent Hospital.
Details of our fixed-price packages can be seen here.
You will always receive written confirmation of your treatment price after your initial consultation with our Sports and Exercise Medicine team and once any diagnostic investigations have been carried out.
Book your private consultation online today or phone us on 020 7780 2400 to arrange your visit.
Based in Stepney Green, East London, The London Independent Hospital is easy to travel to by private or public transport. You can get directions here.
