January 23, 2015 — The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) released its AMSSM Position Statement on Interventional Ultrasound in Sports Medicine and the AMSSM Recommended Sports Ultrasound Curriculum for Sports Medicine Fellowships.
Ultrasound is increasingly being used to assist sports medicine physicians, rheumatologists, orthopedists, and primary care physicians in performing evaluations and injections of different muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints. With the advancement of this technology, ultrasound machines have become smaller and more portable. This has allowed treating clinicians to be able to use real-time, point-of-care ultrasound to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of their patients.
The position statement critically reviews the literature and evaluates the accuracy, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of ultrasound-guided injections in major, intermediate and small joints and soft tissues, all of which are commonly performed in sports medicine. New ultrasound-guided procedures and future trends are also briefly discussed. Based on the evidence, the official AMSSM position relevant to each subject is made. The recommended curriculum outlines competencies of sports ultrasound and to provide sports medicine fellowship directors and others interested in sports ultrasound education with a guide to create a sports ultrasound curriculum.
“The use of ultrasound to diagnose injuries and guide interventions is changing the way we practice medicine,” stated Jonathan Finnoff, M.D., the lead author of the position statement and sports ultrasound curriculum. “Diagnostic ultrasound allows the patient to get accurate and timely information from their physician regarding their injury.
In addition, ultrasound-guided injections are more accurate than non-guided injections, hurt less and appear to work better and reduce the need to have more medical care. So ultimately they save money.”
Finnoff also said that ultrasound allows physicians to find problems they couldn’t have found previously, and enables physicians to do new, advanced procedures that couldn’t have been done without ultrasound. According to Finnoff, “diagnostic and interventional ultrasound is revolutionizing medicine.”
For more information: www.amssm.org
July 19, 2024 
