{"id":8374,"date":"2013-04-24T19:16:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-24T23:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.carecloud.com\/?p=8374"},"modified":"2025-06-27T09:07:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T09:07:53","slug":"pro-sports-medical-staffs-physicians-impact-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/pro-sports-medical-staffs-physicians-impact-winning\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Sports Medical Staffs: Recognizing Physician\u2019s Impact on Winning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing brings a community together quite like a winning sports team. The bars are filled every game night, the water-cooler talk is dominated by statistics and the bandwagoners descend upon the local Sports Authority in droves to buy the jersey of their newest favorite player.<\/p>\n

The funny thing is, the success of a sports team\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0lie solely in the hands of the freakish athletes who run like gazelles and can seemingly jump over buildings. Oftentimes, a team\u2019s fate is determined by the behind-the-scenes physicians<\/strong>, who don\u2019t receive any credit from the casual sports fan.<\/p>\n

See, even the greatest athletes on earth don\u2019t do their teams any good when sidelined because of an injury or illness. Team owners know this, so they assemble the best medical staffs money can buy.<\/p>\n

Medical staffs typically consist of physicians from a broad array of specialties such as orthopedics, neurology, cardiology and podiatry.<\/p>\n

They are charged with three primary tasks: preventing injuries, returning athletes to top health as quickly as possible when injuries do occur and preventing teams from acquiring athletes who won\u2019t be able to perform due to past injuries.<\/p>\n

When a medical staff fails at these tasks, the losses can pile up quickly, putting sports medical staffs under immense pressure. An underperforming medical staff is prone to get the axe much like an underperforming player<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Just take a look at the Boston Red Sox. Their past three seasons have gone by without a post-season appearance, in no small part due to injury.<\/p>\n

In 2010, injuries cost Red Sox players 1,018 possible game appearances. The number dropped a bit to 803 games in 2011 and spiked back up to 1,495 games last year.<\/p>\n

Fed up with the injuries and subsequent losses, Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington decided the medical staff needed to be revamped, cutting ties with some staff physicians. He admitted that some of the injuries couldn\u2019t be avoided, but suggested that players wouldn\u2019t have lost as much time with better treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a baseball-crazed city like Boston, the Red Sox medical staff costing the team a playoff spot is simply unacceptable.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the spectrum is when a great medical staff boosts their team\u2019s chance of success<\/strong> by turning injury-prone players into consistently healthy contributors. A great example of this is the medical staff of the NBA\u2019s Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

This group of physicians and trainers are viewed as miracle workers in NBA circles. They actively take on talented, injury-prone players and give them a chance to make an impact on the court. Some of their greatest successes include:<\/p>\n