You don’t need to be an athlete to benefit from sports medicine care. Anyone experiencing muscle or joint pain, soreness, loss of motion, or weakness is a candidate for treatment.
Listen in as Dr. Robyn Fean discusses that with the right mix of therapeutic approaches, you will soon return to the activities you love.
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Who Should See A Sports Medicine Physician?
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Learn more about Dr. Robyn Fean
Robyn Fean, MD
Dr. Robyn Fean has joined Hendricks Regional Health Sports Medicine, located at the HRH YMCA in Avon. After graduating from St. Mary’s College, she received her medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Fean completed her residency training at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis and went on to complete a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Washington. She is the newest addition to our growing orthopedics and sports medicine program, enhancing our full continuum of care available to the community.Learn more about Dr. Robyn Fean
Transcription:
Who Should See A Sports Medicine Physician?
Melanie Cole (Host): You don't need to be an athlete to benefit from sports medicine care. Anyone experiencing muscle or joint pain, soreness, loss of motion or weakness is a candidate for treatment. My guest today is Dr. Robin Fean. She's a sports medicine physician with Hendricks Regional Health. Welcome to the show, Dr. Fean. What is a sports medicine physician?
Dr. Robin Fean (Guest): Well, there are two types of sports medicine physicians. There's the type that I am, which is a primary care sports medicine. So, we go through primary care-based training, either with family medicine, pediatrics, or internal medicine, and then we do an additional year or two of a fellowship with sports medicine. The second type of sports medicine physician is actually an orthopedic surgeon who their foundation is surgery and then they end up doing an extra year focusing on sports injuries.
Melanie: So, who would come to see you? As I said in the intro, it doesn't necessarily have to be people that are surgical candidates or have a major injury, correct?
Dr. Fean: Absolutely, yes. I think anybody with an athletic type injury or anybody with any type of musculoskeletal injury, we're a good place to start. I think a lot of people think that they need to see an orthopedic surgeon if they've got a bone, joint, muscle, tendon problem, but, in fact, most of those injuries are non-surgical and I think we can handle them just as well, if not maybe better, than an orthopedic surgeon can. So, I think we're a good place to start. Some people feel that they need to go their primary care doctor first and that's fine. I think just with our training, we look at things a little bit differently and our goals are to keep people moving and doing the things that they enjoy. So, we may be a little less likely to tell somebody to stop doing whatever is causing their pain and we look at ways to treat it and keep them active.
Melanie: So, what's the difference between seeing a sports medicine physician and physical therapy and seeing somebody along those lines?
Dr. Fean: Yes, so physical therapy is one of our treatments. A physical therapist is not a physician, but they are trained in treating musculoskeletal problems with exercises and stretches and things. It's actually one of our kind of treatment approaches. I send a lot of people to physical therapy. But, I think it's best to see a physician first to find out whether that's the best treatment plan or whether we need to do a further work up or treat something in a different manner first.
Melanie: Let's talk about some specific types of injuries. One that hits the media pretty heavily lately is concussion and as we are in various seasons, kids at school are taught about concussion, but what can you tell parents who have kids in athletics about either preventing concussion, or when to see a sports medicine physician regarding concussion?
Dr. Fean: So, I think the best thing for parents is just to become educated on what a concussion is and what the signs and symptoms of a concussion are, so my basic spiel to parents is that concussion is an injury to the cells in the brain. So, actually, if someone's got a concussion and you get a CT scan or an MRI, you're not going to see anything abnormal because it's at the smaller, cellular level. There are varied symptoms. Probably the most common symptoms we see with concussions are headaches, dizziness, sometimes nausea, vomiting. Some people lose consciousness, but not always. Actually, the majority do not. Athletes will complain about sleep troubles and are a bit more emotional. There's kind of a myriad of symptoms and if you do a Google search, you can easily find concussion symptoms. So, if you have a child that has had a head injury and they're experiencing any symptoms that are a little bit concerning, I think the best thing to do is get them checked out. If we don't treat concussions right away, their symptoms can become much worse and they oftentimes will linger for a long period of time; whereas, if you get somebody in the appropriate treatment, usually they will recover within a few weeks or so.
Melanie: While treatment is great now if you've had an injury, what about preventing them in the first place? What do you tell people is the best advice for preventing, whether it's athletic injuries or running injuries, or just weekend warrior injuries?
Dr. Fean: I think the best way to prevent injuries is to make sure that you're fit to do that sport. So, specifically with running, I get a lot of people that will come in with a running injury and it's often, "Well, I just decided to pick up running because it's a good way to lose weight and stay in shape," and that's very true, but if you're starting running and you don't have the strength foundation that you need, you're usually going to be seen in my office. So, I think making sure that there's some strength training and some flexibility, stretching, involved, I think that's probably one of the best ways that you can prevent an injury. Then, also, listen to your body. If you're running and you're having this lingering ache and pain, listen to your body, get it checked out, don't keep pushing through it.
Melanie: What about cross-training, Dr. Fean, because people, especially student athletes that are very good at one particular sport, they tend to over train or only focus on that sport and sport-specific training, so what do you tell them about cross-training and over training and changing it up a little bit?
Dr. Fean: Yes, I think cross-training is essential. If you don't do any cross-training--I'm always using running as an example, it's just and easy example. If you're only running, you're constantly loading the same joints in the same way, you're working the same muscles and not needing to work other muscles, so it's just setting you up for more injury. So, if you are a runner, it's important to throw something else in there a couple times a week. Definitely strength training, doing something like swimming or cycling to work different muscle groups and kind of unload some of the joints that you're really loading with running.
Melanie: If somebody does you know, experience a small injury, are you an ice person or a heat person?
Dr. Fean: You know, it kind of depends, but more times than not, if the acute is just something that just happened, it's ice. Ice is going to decrease swelling whereas heat is going to make swelling worse. So, I think if you think about it that way. For somebody that has a swollen joint, ice is a good thing. Now, heat would come into play if you kind of have some muscle spasm going on. So, people with back pain and it feels like the muscles are really tightening up, heat is a nice thing to kind of loosen up those muscles, so I'll tell people to kind of use heat before they go to stretch and then you can ice down afterwards.
Melanie: And, can you use ice if an injury is old or if it's chronic like arthritis or some kind of tendonitis? Does ice work in that case?
Dr. Fean: Yes, I still, I mean, a lot of people will say it doesn't work as well, and that may be true, but I think it still has a little bit of an anti-inflammatory and is helpful for pain sort of properties, so I recommend ice a lot. It's not going to hurt anything.
Melanie: And, then, when do you think something is maybe more emergent or something that someone would have to go to an orthopod to see?
Dr. Fean: You know, to an orthopod, the reason you should definitely go to an orthopod is if you have something that you know is surgical. So, if you tore your ACL and it's obvious based on your exam where you saw your primary doctor and you had an MRI that shows the ACL tear, you know, not only an ACL isn’t an easy fix, but if you're somebody that you're going to need to have surgery for it, then you should probably go directly to an orthopedic surgeon. Likewise, there are some fractures that need surgical fixation, and if that's the case, you don't want to see someone like me who can't treat you. Just go straight to the surgeon.
Melanie: So, then, wrap it up for us, Dr. Fean. Tell us about the sports medicine at Hendricks Regional Health. Tell us a little bit about your team and give your best advice for people that may be new to athletics, or new to a sport, or a weekend warrior, to prevent injuries altogether.
Dr. Fean: So, our team, we actually have a great team. We have three primary care sports medicine doctors, myself, Dr. Harsha, and Dr. Boer, and then we have three orthopedic surgeons: Dr. Waite, Dr. Ritter, and Dr. Prather. We take care of pretty much all the schools in Hendricks County. We have a really strong program here. As far as preventing injury, if you're going to be somebody that's going to be starting up a new sport, if you've got any questions or concerns about whether you're doing your sport correctly, I think it makes sense to kind of invest some money and time into seeing an expert in that sport. So, you know, getting lessons from a tennis coach or something like that so that you're doing your sport properly, is probably one of the best ways you can prevent injury. And, again, if you're developing any aches and pains, I wouldn't wait around, probably get in to see one of us to check it out and make sure that it's not something more serious than just some muscle aches after doing your sport.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us. It's really great information. You're listening to Health Talks with HRH: Hendricks Regional Health and for more information, you can go to www.hendricks.org. That's www.hendricks.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Who Should See A Sports Medicine Physician?
Melanie Cole (Host): You don't need to be an athlete to benefit from sports medicine care. Anyone experiencing muscle or joint pain, soreness, loss of motion or weakness is a candidate for treatment. My guest today is Dr. Robin Fean. She's a sports medicine physician with Hendricks Regional Health. Welcome to the show, Dr. Fean. What is a sports medicine physician?
Dr. Robin Fean (Guest): Well, there are two types of sports medicine physicians. There's the type that I am, which is a primary care sports medicine. So, we go through primary care-based training, either with family medicine, pediatrics, or internal medicine, and then we do an additional year or two of a fellowship with sports medicine. The second type of sports medicine physician is actually an orthopedic surgeon who their foundation is surgery and then they end up doing an extra year focusing on sports injuries.
Melanie: So, who would come to see you? As I said in the intro, it doesn't necessarily have to be people that are surgical candidates or have a major injury, correct?
Dr. Fean: Absolutely, yes. I think anybody with an athletic type injury or anybody with any type of musculoskeletal injury, we're a good place to start. I think a lot of people think that they need to see an orthopedic surgeon if they've got a bone, joint, muscle, tendon problem, but, in fact, most of those injuries are non-surgical and I think we can handle them just as well, if not maybe better, than an orthopedic surgeon can. So, I think we're a good place to start. Some people feel that they need to go their primary care doctor first and that's fine. I think just with our training, we look at things a little bit differently and our goals are to keep people moving and doing the things that they enjoy. So, we may be a little less likely to tell somebody to stop doing whatever is causing their pain and we look at ways to treat it and keep them active.
Melanie: So, what's the difference between seeing a sports medicine physician and physical therapy and seeing somebody along those lines?
Dr. Fean: Yes, so physical therapy is one of our treatments. A physical therapist is not a physician, but they are trained in treating musculoskeletal problems with exercises and stretches and things. It's actually one of our kind of treatment approaches. I send a lot of people to physical therapy. But, I think it's best to see a physician first to find out whether that's the best treatment plan or whether we need to do a further work up or treat something in a different manner first.
Melanie: Let's talk about some specific types of injuries. One that hits the media pretty heavily lately is concussion and as we are in various seasons, kids at school are taught about concussion, but what can you tell parents who have kids in athletics about either preventing concussion, or when to see a sports medicine physician regarding concussion?
Dr. Fean: So, I think the best thing for parents is just to become educated on what a concussion is and what the signs and symptoms of a concussion are, so my basic spiel to parents is that concussion is an injury to the cells in the brain. So, actually, if someone's got a concussion and you get a CT scan or an MRI, you're not going to see anything abnormal because it's at the smaller, cellular level. There are varied symptoms. Probably the most common symptoms we see with concussions are headaches, dizziness, sometimes nausea, vomiting. Some people lose consciousness, but not always. Actually, the majority do not. Athletes will complain about sleep troubles and are a bit more emotional. There's kind of a myriad of symptoms and if you do a Google search, you can easily find concussion symptoms. So, if you have a child that has had a head injury and they're experiencing any symptoms that are a little bit concerning, I think the best thing to do is get them checked out. If we don't treat concussions right away, their symptoms can become much worse and they oftentimes will linger for a long period of time; whereas, if you get somebody in the appropriate treatment, usually they will recover within a few weeks or so.
Melanie: While treatment is great now if you've had an injury, what about preventing them in the first place? What do you tell people is the best advice for preventing, whether it's athletic injuries or running injuries, or just weekend warrior injuries?
Dr. Fean: I think the best way to prevent injuries is to make sure that you're fit to do that sport. So, specifically with running, I get a lot of people that will come in with a running injury and it's often, "Well, I just decided to pick up running because it's a good way to lose weight and stay in shape," and that's very true, but if you're starting running and you don't have the strength foundation that you need, you're usually going to be seen in my office. So, I think making sure that there's some strength training and some flexibility, stretching, involved, I think that's probably one of the best ways that you can prevent an injury. Then, also, listen to your body. If you're running and you're having this lingering ache and pain, listen to your body, get it checked out, don't keep pushing through it.
Melanie: What about cross-training, Dr. Fean, because people, especially student athletes that are very good at one particular sport, they tend to over train or only focus on that sport and sport-specific training, so what do you tell them about cross-training and over training and changing it up a little bit?
Dr. Fean: Yes, I think cross-training is essential. If you don't do any cross-training--I'm always using running as an example, it's just and easy example. If you're only running, you're constantly loading the same joints in the same way, you're working the same muscles and not needing to work other muscles, so it's just setting you up for more injury. So, if you are a runner, it's important to throw something else in there a couple times a week. Definitely strength training, doing something like swimming or cycling to work different muscle groups and kind of unload some of the joints that you're really loading with running.
Melanie: If somebody does you know, experience a small injury, are you an ice person or a heat person?
Dr. Fean: You know, it kind of depends, but more times than not, if the acute is just something that just happened, it's ice. Ice is going to decrease swelling whereas heat is going to make swelling worse. So, I think if you think about it that way. For somebody that has a swollen joint, ice is a good thing. Now, heat would come into play if you kind of have some muscle spasm going on. So, people with back pain and it feels like the muscles are really tightening up, heat is a nice thing to kind of loosen up those muscles, so I'll tell people to kind of use heat before they go to stretch and then you can ice down afterwards.
Melanie: And, can you use ice if an injury is old or if it's chronic like arthritis or some kind of tendonitis? Does ice work in that case?
Dr. Fean: Yes, I still, I mean, a lot of people will say it doesn't work as well, and that may be true, but I think it still has a little bit of an anti-inflammatory and is helpful for pain sort of properties, so I recommend ice a lot. It's not going to hurt anything.
Melanie: And, then, when do you think something is maybe more emergent or something that someone would have to go to an orthopod to see?
Dr. Fean: You know, to an orthopod, the reason you should definitely go to an orthopod is if you have something that you know is surgical. So, if you tore your ACL and it's obvious based on your exam where you saw your primary doctor and you had an MRI that shows the ACL tear, you know, not only an ACL isn’t an easy fix, but if you're somebody that you're going to need to have surgery for it, then you should probably go directly to an orthopedic surgeon. Likewise, there are some fractures that need surgical fixation, and if that's the case, you don't want to see someone like me who can't treat you. Just go straight to the surgeon.
Melanie: So, then, wrap it up for us, Dr. Fean. Tell us about the sports medicine at Hendricks Regional Health. Tell us a little bit about your team and give your best advice for people that may be new to athletics, or new to a sport, or a weekend warrior, to prevent injuries altogether.
Dr. Fean: So, our team, we actually have a great team. We have three primary care sports medicine doctors, myself, Dr. Harsha, and Dr. Boer, and then we have three orthopedic surgeons: Dr. Waite, Dr. Ritter, and Dr. Prather. We take care of pretty much all the schools in Hendricks County. We have a really strong program here. As far as preventing injury, if you're going to be somebody that's going to be starting up a new sport, if you've got any questions or concerns about whether you're doing your sport correctly, I think it makes sense to kind of invest some money and time into seeing an expert in that sport. So, you know, getting lessons from a tennis coach or something like that so that you're doing your sport properly, is probably one of the best ways you can prevent injury. And, again, if you're developing any aches and pains, I wouldn't wait around, probably get in to see one of us to check it out and make sure that it's not something more serious than just some muscle aches after doing your sport.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us. It's really great information. You're listening to Health Talks with HRH: Hendricks Regional Health and for more information, you can go to www.hendricks.org. That's www.hendricks.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.