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Better Health D
ADVOCATING FOR PATIENTS: Patient Protective Services, D2 JOINT REPLACEMENT: consider sooner than later, D3 NATURALLY: healthy ways to build muscle, D4
| SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2019
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FITNESS INCLUDES
THREE COMPONENTS GOOD FLEXIBILITY,
GOOD AEROBIC CONDITIONING OR ENDURANCE, AND GOOD STRENGTH.
PHYSIATRISTS OFFER NONSURGICAL APPROACH TO MUSCLE, JOINT, OTHER CONDITIONS THAT IMPEDE FUNCTION By Anne-Gerard Flynn
the United States, Martinez noted, and the broad medical training of physiatrists allows them to diagnose and manage a variety of conditions as well as perform procedures exclusive of surgery to determine what is interfering with a patient’s ability to move and causing pain as well as treat the problem. “We use physical agents like ice, heat, massage, electronic stimulation to help restore the patient’s function,” said Martinez who sees patients for injuries of the muscles
and joints as well as conditions like arthritis at the recently opened Baystate Health and Wellness Center on Dwight Road in Longmeadow and in Springfield. Martinez said many of the injuries he sees are the result of overuse of muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons that attach muscle to bones and that can result in inflammatory conditions like tendinitis
and bursitis. He also treats acute injuries like sports-related concussions. “Ninety to 95 percent of all sports injuries are non-surgical and we are equipped to treat all of them,” Martinez said. He added someone needing surgery for an injury like a fracture would be referred to an orthopedic surgeon. “The philosophy of doing rehabilitation involves identifying three elements,” Martinez said.
“The first is the anatomic dysfunction – what is the type of injury that is causing the athlete pain. The second is which symptoms does the patient have – pain, redness, decreased strength – and then what is the functional limitation, such as the gymnast cannot tumble because they are having shoulder pain.” He said in terms of functional limitation a patient with a sports injury is evaluated on general performance, such as the basic ability to walk without a limp or pivot, and then
Special to The Republican
A back injury as a 17-yearold weight lifter on Puerto Rico’s national team started Baystate Health’s Dr. Julio A. Martinez on a career path that would lead to his specialty – physiatry - that helps restore impaired function in patients who do not need surgery. Also known as physical and rehabilitation doctors, physiatrists treat a variety of conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves as well as joints and muscles in patients of all ages and may work with a team of other health care professionals, like physical therapists, in overseeing a patient’s treatment. They may have a subspecialty in other fields like brain injury medicine, neuromuscular medicine and spinal cord injury medicine. Martinez is medical director of Baystate Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation that has a number of offices in the area and was the first physiatrist in the Pioneer Valley to become board certified in sports medicine in addition to physical medicine and rehabilitation. The field of rehabilitation became a separate medical specialty after World War II in
Dr. Julio A. Martinez-Silvestrini is medical director of Baystate Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation that has a number of locations in the area. The physiatrist, shown here at Baystate Health and Wellness Center in Longmeadow, is board certified in sports medicine as well as physical medicine and rehabilitation and sees patients in Longmeadow and Springfield for injuries of the muscles and joints as well as conditions like arthritis that do not require surgery. (ANNE-GERARD FLYNN PHOTO)
evaluated on sports-specific performance, such as can they throw their javelin with the correct technique, with the latter helping to determine the causes of the injury. He added once anatomic dysfunction is identified, sometimes through physical examination or tests, like an MRI, and symptoms eased through protective applications such as the use of crutches or bracing, sports performance can be addressed. “An athlete may not be ready to lift weights or run, but they can do posture exercise to make sure their posture is correct,” Martinez said. “They might work on their technique or flexibility. There are a lot of things we can do in the gym as part of the rehabilitation process.” He said it is important for athletes not in the initial phase of recovery to do their rehabilitation exercises twice a day when possible to speed up recovery. Martinez has served as doctor to a number of area high school, college and professional sports teams, like the Springfield Falcons, which played in the American Hockey League until 2016, and the Springfield Armor baseball team when it was based here, and he continues to visit schools and other venues to talk to athletes both about injuries as well as how to avoid them. “I performed with my back injury as a young athlete in an international competition and that was not only painful but it was frustrating emotionally to not be able to perform to the level that I could,” said Martinez of what SEE PHYSIATRIST, PAGE D4
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