MY INTERACTION WITH PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES

By F. Harlan Selesnick, M.D.

MIAMI MEDICINE, Sports and Medicine, November 1994,

Since moving to Miami approximately nine years ago, I have been fortunate to have developed an orthopedic surgical practice that is largely composed of sports medicine patients.  Although the vast majority of my patients are recreational athletes with injuries, there is still a sizable percentage of my time dedicated to treating professional athletes.  My practice has included treatment of professional basketball players, professional football players, Olympic gold medalists, professional Jai Alai players, professional bowlers, professional golfers, Wimbledon champions and professional dancers.  This article is a brief discussion of some of my interactions with these high level athletes.

My interaction with the Miami Heat players has truly been a great experience.  There are only twelve players at one time and it affords the opportunity to establish an excellent rapport as well as a strong doctor/patient relationship.  I believe that the players appreciate the genuine concern that the medical team has for their health and well being as well as the confidentiality that is maintained with the doctor/patient relationship.

Equally important is my communication with other members of the medical team, coaches, trainers, management and agents.  In recent times, prevention of sports-related injuries has become an important goal of sports medicine;  therefore the need to communicate the importance of proper conditioning is essential.

During the basketball "off-season," many Heat players work to improve flexibility, strength and endurance.  In addition, they may rehabilitate an injury or improve specific muscular deficiencies.  Even during the off-season, I am in frequent communication with the players, trainer and other Miami Heat staff.

Professional Jai Alai players have always been a very loyal group of patients.  They lead a very grueling schedule playing professionally eleven months a year, approximately eighty performances a week and approximately five games per performance.  In view of the length of their season, these athletes are particularly prone to overuse injuries.  The most common injuries usually involve forms of tendonitis, related to the right shoulder, elbow and wrist.   Originally, most Jai Alai players in South Florida came from the Basque regions of Spain and France.  Over the last ten years, however, there has been a great increase in young American talent, to the point that now the majority of players are trained in the United States.

Professional tennis athletes may be the finest conditioned athletes of all.  To play for up to three hours of tennis on a hot day at the professional level requires incredible conditioning.  In addition, unlike athletes that play for professional sports teams which are based out of one location and have access to consistent medical care, professional tennis players travel weekly from city to city and country to country.  This makes early treatment of overuse injuries difficult and follow-up even more difficult.  Since professional tennis players do not have guaranteed contracts and guaranteed incomes, many continue to play despite significant injury.  Therefore, when they present to my office many of them will have injuries that require a significant period of rest and rehabilitation.

Another interesting group of professionals that I see in my office on a regular basis are dancers.  Dancers are used to performing and participating with pain.  Overuse problems, particularly stress fractures are extremely common in dancers.  Dancers, too, tend to present when their symptoms have progressed to the point that they can no longer dance and perform.  In general, dancers also require a period of rest and rehabilitation before they can return to their art form.

This article has been written with generalizations instead of my specific interactions with individual athletes due to the confidentiality that a doctor/patient relationship commands.  Like all patients, some athletes are more compliant, more dedicated and better communicators.  In order to promote a good relationship between a physician and professional athlete, the physician must fulfill many roles including healer, educator and advisor.