In the new series, “The Athlete’s Pain,” medical reporter Gina Kolata explores how the hope and hype of many promising sports medicine treatments often outpace the evidence that they actually work.
Medical experts say tales of multiple futile treatments are all too familiar and point to growing problems in sports medicine, a medical subspecialty that has been experiencing explosive growth. Part of the field’s popularity, among patients and doctors alike, stems from the fact that celebrity athletes, desperate to get back to playing after an injury, have been trying unproven treatments, giving the procedures a sort of star appeal….
The result is therapies that are unproven, possibly worthless or even harmful. There is surgery, like a popular operation that shaves the hip bone to prevent arthritis, that may not work. There are treatments, like steroid injections for injured tendons or taping a sprained ankle, that can slow the healing process. And there are fads, like one of Ms. Basle’s treatments, P.R.P., that soar in popularity while experts debate whether they help.
All this leads Dr. Andrew Green, a shoulder orthopedist at Brown University, to ask, “Is sports medicine a science, something that really pays attention to evidence? Or is it a boutique industry where you have a product and sell it?”
Read the full story, “As Sports Medicine Surges, Hope and Hype Outpace Proven Treatments,” and then please join the discussion below.
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