Sports Medicine Unit
From elite competitive teams to amateur athletes with varying levels of involvement, as well as sedentary people.
The best Sports Medicine Unit
The sports medicine unit forms part of ICATME.
What services do we offer?
- Sports medical fitness certificates (football, basketball, diving, etc.).
- Musculoskeletal ultrasound.
- Performance, supplementation and injury prevention.
- Assessments of athletes’ susceptibility to injury.
Sports medical fitness certificate
As a centre accredited by the Government of Catalonia, we issue basic fitness certificates for federated sporting activities.
The certificate includes:
- A medical consultation, with particular attention to cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal assessment.
- A resting electrocardiogram.
- Spirometry.
- Visita médica, con especial atención en la valoración cardiopulmonar y del aparato locomotor
- Electrocardiograma de reposo
- Espirometría
Conditions
Indices relating weight to height (BMI) provide an initial assessment of excess weight and cardiovascular risk.
By studying subcutaneous skinfolds and muscle circumferences, we determine body fat percentage and muscle mass.
This unit specialises in a non-invasive, harmless ultrasound technique for examining soft-tissue injuries. It allows rapid, dynamic and inexpensive diagnosis without side effects.
In addition to assisting diagnosis, the unit performs ultrasound-guided interventional treatments using viscosupplements, PRP or high-volume injections.
Diagnosis
The main conditions that benefit from this technique include the following.
Painful shoulder
- Rotator cuff assessment, particularly the supraspinatus, for inflammation (tendinitis) and tears.
- Subacromial syndrome.
- Inflammatory or traumatic biceps tendon disorders.
- Dynamic assessment of movement.
- Acromioclavicular joint disease.
Elbow
- Epicondylitis (tennis elbow) and the arcade of Frohse.
- Medial epicondylitis.
- Injuries to the distal insertion of the biceps.
- Olecranon bursitis.
Hand
- Synovial cysts of the wrist and fingers.
- Inflammatory or traumatic conditions affecting the finger flexor and extensor tendons (De Quervain’s disease, trigger finger…).
- Carpal tunnel syndrome (median nerve).
- Dupuytren’s contracture.
- Ligament conditions.
- The scapholunate joint.
- The triangular ligament of the wrist.
- Collateral ligaments of the finger metacarpophalangeal joints following trauma.
Hip
- Assessment of the hip joint to rule out degenerative changes and intra-articular effusions.
- Iliopsoas bursitis.
- Trochanteritis.
- Insertional enthesitis at the iliac crest.
Knee
- Intra-articular effusions.
- Quadriceps tendon injuries.
- Patellar tendon injuries.
- Prepatellar bursitis.
- Collateral ligament assessment.
- Joint-line assessment for osteoarthritic degeneration and meniscal injuries.
Ankle
- Acute and chronic Achilles tendon injuries.
- Inflammatory conditions of the anterior tendons (tibialis anterior, common extensor and great-toe extensor) and lateral tendons (peroneal tendons, tibialis posterior or flexors).
- Collateral ligament injuries following acute or chronic sprains.
Foot
- Plantar fascia.
- Toe flexor and extensor tendons.
Muscle
Muscle tears in general, most commonly involving:
- The medial gastrocnemius, often described as the sensation of being struck by a stone, in the middle third of the calf.
- The rectus femoris in the middle third of the front of the thigh.
- The hamstrings at the back of the thigh.
Lumps
Lumps requiring differential diagnosis occur mainly in the fingers. The most common are synovial cysts, lipomas and giant cell tumours.
Foreign bodies
After an injury, it is often necessary to rule out a retained foreign body, such as glass or a wooden splinter.
People who practise sport need to optimise their activity and recovery, avoid injury and protect their health.
Blood test profiles are used to identify excesses and deficiencies and determine the optimal supplementation for each individual.
Many physical characteristics, vitamin and dietary deficiencies and predispositions to injury are genetically determined.
This area offers genetic profiles and markers alongside blood test profiles to individualise supplementation, diet and physical effort limits, with the aim of protecting health, improving performance and preventing injuries.
Regenerative medicine using PRP injections (growth factors) and stem cells from adipose tissue or bone marrow has emerged as a treatment for musculotendinous conditions and degenerative joint injuries.
Biological therapies offer a treatment approach for injuries involving muscles, tendons, cartilage, menisci and joints.
Ultrasound allows more accurate placement of an injection.
The injected substance may be a local anaesthetic, corticosteroid, viscosupplement, growth factors (PRP), or a high-volume injection.
Injections are performed mainly in the following areas.
- Shoulder — subacromial space, acromioclavicular joint and intra-articular injections.
- Elbow — olecranon bursa, lateral epicondyle, medial epicondyle and intra-articular injections.
- Hand — tendinopathies and intra-articular injections in the wrist, trigger fingers or thumb-base osteoarthritis.
- Hip — intra-articular injections, psoas tendon, peritrochanteric region, piriformis muscle and iliac crest (tensor fasciae latae insertion).
- Knee — intra-articular injections.
- Foot — intra-articular injections in the ankle, subtalar and first metatarsophalangeal joints, peritendinous injections and plantar fascia.
High-volume injections
Under ultrasound guidance, approximately 40 cc of a mixture of anaesthetic, corticosteroid and saline is injected. Treatment must then be complemented with physiotherapy, mainly eccentric exercises for tendinopathies.
This treatment is mainly used for:
- Subacromial shoulder syndromes.
- Shoulder capsulitis.
- Achilles tendinopathy, where corticosteroid is not used.
- Patellar tendinopathy.
The team
The sports medicine unit is staffed by healthcare professionals specialising in this field.
