Managing Lower Extremity Injuries Conservatively

(AUDIO) When a patient limps into your office, it's most likely that the problem can be treated conservatively. However, according to sportsmedicine specialist Anthony Luke MD, many primary care doctors find these injuries challenging to assess correctly. How can you safely determine whether simple exercises are sufficient or whether you should check for a hidden fracture? Here you'll hear guidance from Dr. Luke, who is Director of Primary Care Sports Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, drawing on a seminar he recently gave at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

 The questions:

♦  How do you proceed when a patient presents with a lower extremity injury?
♦  Which lower extremity problems are most amenable to conservative treatment?
♦  How can a doctor safely identify treatments that can be treated conservatively?
♦  What are the most effective conservative interventions?
♦  What is the risk of exacerbating an injury by recommending pain killers that may encourage a patient to be active when rest is called for?
♦  How can a doctor know when it is time to stop conservative treatment and proceed to another kind of intervention?

Managing Lower Extremity Injuries Conservatively