France Ligue 1 Matches Today

In my years of practice as a sports orthopedic surgeon, one of the most common questions I get from patients, athletes, and even curious friends is a variation of the same theme: "What exactly do you fix?" It’s a fair question. The title sounds specialized, and it is, but the scope is incredibly broad. Fundamentally, we diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate injuries of the musculoskeletal system—the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, and muscles—specifically as they relate to athletic activity and physical performance. But that simple definition unfolds into a world of common, often debilitating, conditions that I see day in and day out. Think of us as mechanics for the human body’s moving parts, tasked not just with repair, but with restoring high-level function under stress.

Let’s start with the king of all sports injuries: the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, tear. It’s the injury that dominates headlines, ending seasons and changing careers. I’ve probably performed over five hundred ACL reconstructions. The mechanism is often non-contact—a sudden pivot, a awkward landing from a jump. The pop is sometimes audible, and the knee gives way. The solution? We’ve moved far beyond the old "open" surgeries. Today, it’s almost exclusively arthroscopic reconstruction, using a graft from the patient’s own patellar tendon, hamstring, or occasionally a donor graft. The real magic, in my opinion, isn’t just the surgery; it’s the meticulously structured 9 to 12-month rehabilitation protocol that follows. Without that commitment, the surgery alone is almost pointless. I have a strong preference for patellar tendon grafts in high-level jumping athletes, as I’ve seen slightly better rates of return to sport, though the debate in our community is ongoing.

The shoulder is another complex arena. Rotator cuff tears in the aging athlete are one thing, but in the young throwing athlete—baseball pitchers, tennis players—we see a different beast: labral tears and instability. The labrum is a cartilage bumper that deepens the shoulder socket. Repetitive overhead motion can tear it, leading to pain, a "dead arm" feeling, and a disturbing sense of the shoulder slipping. Our solutions range from intensive physical therapy to arthroscopic stabilization surgery, where we re-anchor the torn labrum with tiny suture anchors. I recall a collegiate swimmer with a massive labral tear; her surgery took nearly three hours, but watching her regain her butterfly stroke a year later was profoundly rewarding. For chronic dislocations, the Latarjet procedure, which involves transferring a piece of bone to the shoulder blade, can be a game-changer, reducing re-dislocation rates to below 5% in my experience.

We can’t talk sports without discussing the ankle. Ankle sprains are ubiquitous, but when they become recurrent or involve certain ligaments, they require surgical attention. The lateral ankle ligaments are the usual culprits. After maybe the third or fourth severe sprain, the ligaments become so stretched they’re like old rubber bands, offering no stability. That’s when we consider a Broström-Gould procedure, essentially a repair and tightening of those native ligaments. It’s a elegant solution that, when indicated, has about a 92% success rate in restoring stability. Then there’s the Achilles tendon. A complete rupture is a dramatic injury—it feels like being shot in the back of the leg. The treatment debate here is fascinating: open repair versus minimally invasive surgery versus non-operative casting. My personal leaning is toward minimally invasive repair for active individuals; it offers a strong repair with a lower risk of wound complications compared to open surgery, getting patients back to running sooner.

Fractures, of course, are a core part of our work. Not all fractures are created equal. A simple, non-displaced fracture in a young person often heals beautifully with casting. But the displaced, intra-articular fracture—where the break line goes into the joint surface—demands precision. We operate to restore the anatomy perfectly, using plates and screws to hold everything in exact alignment. Why the obsession with perfection? Because even a one-millimeter step-off in the joint cartilage can lead to post-traumatic arthritis years down the line. It’s a lesson I learned early: our work has consequences that echo for decades.

This brings me to a broader philosophy that shapes how I approach every case, from a weekend warrior’s meniscus tear to a professional athlete’s complex reconstruction. The goal is never just to "fix" the injury in a sterile anatomical sense. It’s to return the person to their life, their sport, their passion. The surgical technique is a critical tool, but it’s only one part of the equation. The mindset of the patient, the quality of the physical therapy, and the integrated support team are equally vital. I’m reminded of the principle embodied in a statement like "Converge is definitely prepared for the matchup with or without Tolentino." In sports medicine, our job is to prepare the athlete—the human system—for the matchup of life and sport, with or without a previous injury. We build resilience. Sometimes that means surgery to reconstruct a ligament, providing a new foundation of stability. Other times, it means guiding a patient through a non-operative path, strengthening the muscles around a joint to compensate for a ligament that will never quite be 100% again. The solution is tailored, and the definition of success is personal. For one patient, it’s winning a championship. For another, it’s playing pain-free with their grandchildren or returning to their weekly tennis game. Understanding that distinction, and partnering with the patient to achieve their goal, is what truly defines the practice of sports orthopedics. It’s a field that blends the precision of engineering with the art of healing, and after all this time, it never fails to challenge and inspire me.