Gabby Cinnamon (Host): Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast. I'm your host, Gabby Cinnamon. And today I'm very excited to be joined by Dr. Jason Shin, Sports Medicine Specialist and Orthopedic Surgeon to talk about sports medicine at Riverside. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast today, Dr. Shin.

Jason Shin, MD: All right, thanks.

My Chart Ad: Healthcare can be confusing, but thanks to your myRiverside myChart, you can easily manage not only your care, but your family's as well. With a single click, your myRiverside myChart lets you stay well connected to the same information your provider sees. You can view your health history, get test results, request prescription refills, pay your bill, or make an appointment. Manage your care from anywhere, your laptop, phone, or tablet. Learn more and enroll today at riversidemychart.org.

Host: So this is your first podcast with us. Can you tell us about yourself, your background, and your training?

Jason Shin, MD: So I'm a Orthopedic Surgeon, Board Certified in Orthopedic Surgery, subspecialty training in Sports Medicine and Shoulder Surgery. I've been in practice for about eight years now, post residency and fellowship training. I've been with Riverside for almost three and a half years now.

Host: Wow, we're looking forward to talking about sports medicine. For those who don't know, can you explain what sports medicine is?

Jason Shin, MD: So sports medicine is a subset within orthopedics and in medicine in general where we deal with athletes and we're talking about athletes of all ages including children that may be partaking in little league, to high school athletes as well as all the way up to the to more elderly and geriatric and master's population, those who partake in something popular such as pickleball.

Host: So you see a broad range of patients in your clinic. Can you talk about some of the most common injuries you see, from athletes?

Jason Shin, MD: So one of the most common injuries that we encounter, both as a specialist and within medicine in general, are overuse injuries. So patients that have been doing a, certain type of sports for year long activities and without taking appropriate rest and they'll have a lot of overuse type of conditions, whether it be with their shoulder, hip, knee, ankle, pretty much any part of the body, any part of the joint where after doing a whole lot of activities without being able to give the body its proper timing to recover and relax, patients will suffer from overuse.

Host: Let's say someone really enjoys a certain activity like baseball and they still want to be able to enjoy that, but they want to also try and prevent these injuries. What can they do to prevent an overuse injury?

Jason Shin, MD: So that's an excellent question, and there's a big movement within the orthopedic community, as well as within both surgical and non-surgical sports medicine societies, where we're trying to get individuals, and especially with young athletes to partake in multi sports.

So there's a big movement to try to get people to focus on playing rather than just one sport an entire year round, to focus on maybe three different sports. So from one part of the year to another, do a lot of baseball and then afterwards play soccer and then afterwards play volleyball so that the body is being able to develop different parts of the body and at the same time not developing overuse injury where you have a very repetitive condition that can predispose a certain part of the shoulder or elbow to an injury that can predispose them to catastrophic injuries that can result in a surgery.

Host: I assume, you know, with the rise in travel sports you know, that kind of would increase your likelihood because some of these, especially kids, high schoolers are playing that sport year round. So that can be a lot of strain, I'm sure.

Jason Shin, MD: And that certainly has been the case, especially with travel ball and there are some kids that are playing in multiple teams at the same time. So they may be trying to get under the radar in terms of for example, with our pitchers, with pitch count and things like that. But if they're playing in two or three different leagues, well, they're trying to sneak their way in, to do those extra throws and pitches and things like that and that's where we see injuries that are really unnecessary and type of injuries where even 10-15 years ago we would see in individuals who were in collegiate or even later on within professional development; these people would have such injuries, but nowadays we're seeing the same injuries in high school athletes.

Host: Let's talk about overtraining. You know, how can athletes balance, you know, pushing their limits, becoming better at their sport? You know, they say practice, you get better with practice. How can they do that without developing a sports injury? Like what's the, there's kind of a line, I'm I'm sure.

Jason Shin, MD: There certainly is. And of course, no two individuals are the same and no 14 or 15 year olds are the same as well. There are certain individuals that are certainly older than physiologically than their biologic age. Um, and then of course there are other individuals that are younger as well. I think it's important to work with mentors and coaches that have a good understanding and that have the best interest of the young athlete' s future and working with them and not only trying to do the exact same motion again and again, but focusing on the entire body. So, throwing is not all about having a strong shoulder, but really being able to work with a throwing coach that's able to give them the appropriate training so that they're able to focus on their lower body, core strength, flexibility, and making sure that they're able to get into right form in order to be able to develop right techniques so that when they are older and when they need to hit their peak and their stride, they're that they're able to perform at a maximum level.

Host: So let's say, you know, someone has started, an athlete, has started experiencing pain. At what point should they seek professional medical help? I think a lot of times we start getting pain and just kinda let it go. At what point should they, see a, um, specialist?

Jason Shin, MD: I think if they see a significant change or drop in their performance, especially during a game if they have a sudden event where they're not able to perform at the level that they were once able to or if they're unable to complete the game, I think it's worthwhile seeking help and having to be assessed by either a primary care physician or even within our clinic.

And then of course, if it's more of an overuse type of injury, give it couple days rest, do the usual with, icing, resting, modifying activities, and taking some ibuprofen anti-inflammatories. And if it gets better, perfect. However, if it persists, despite that after two or three days of rest, at that stage I think it's worthwhile having the individual evaluated.

Host: We're going to take a quick break to talk about primary care at Riverside. Riverside knows that health is your greatest asset and having a primary care provider you trust is important to maintaining your overall health and wellbeing. Don't have a primary care provider or looking for a new one? Great news! Riverside has a team of primary care providers accepting new patients. To find a primary care provider at Riverside, visit riversidehealthcare.org/primarycare.

Now back to our episode with Dr. Shin. So kind of on, you know, the shoulder pain example; let's say someone does feel like, okay, this has really been bothering me. It is affecting my performance. And they come and see you. What might the course of action be when they come into your clinic for the first visit?

Jason Shin, MD: So we would certainly start by taking a thorough history, patient level of expectation, history arounding the pain level, what started it all, their level of dysfunction. And then of course we would examine them, basically doing a real thorough assessment, not just of their shoulder, but, their whole body making sure that there isn't a caused by another issue related to their neck or back or elbow etc.

And then of course we would have the patient evaluated with diagnostic imaging including x-rays in office here today and if warranted we would have the individual sent for physical therapy and also if necessary with further imaging such as MRI.

Host: So let's say someone has tried a physical therapy and maybe, you know, it isn't helping like it should, at what point, does surgery get on the table as an option for them?

Jason Shin, MD: It really depends on the type of condition they have, and of course, at the end of the day, orthopedics, when it's not a urgent or emergent condition, it comes down to pain and function. So, if it's affecting their pain level and it's causing dysfunction, and if it's something that we could surgically change and fix, at that stage, surgery would be indicated.

Host: Are there any advancements in recent years in surgery or maybe surgical options that weren't available 5, 10, 15 years ago?

Jason Shin, MD: I think within orthopedics and especially in sports medicine, it's an exciting field where there's constantly advances in terms of just techniques and instruments and the type of implants that we're able to utilize that allows us to perform these types of procedures and surgeries in a less invasive manner, causing less pain and less injury and trauma to the patient in general and allowing them to return at a faster rate with a higher rate of success in general.

Host: Before we go today, Dr. Shin, is there anything else you would like to add?

Jason Shin, MD: Movement is life. We want our patients to stay fit, active and healthy. And if patients need us, feel free to come reach out at the Orthopedic Spine Center.

Host: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Shin, for coming on the podcast today. And thank you listeners for tuning in to Well Within Reach, brought to you by Riverside Healthcare.

To learn more about sports medicine at Riverside, visit riversidehealthcare.org. Also make sure to rate and leave a review for Well Within Reach on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.