Infections in athletes can be a challenge. No one likes to feel sick, especially someone who is ready to compete in a sport or participate in an event. Some infectious diseases raise more concern when dealing with athletes. Infectious mononucleosis is one of those […]By Mark Halstead

We are continuing our series of podcasts called “Pediatric Sport Medicine Profiles.” We all know there have been some significantly instrumental individuals who have been influential in this landscape whether it be training many of us, people who have completed critical research, those who […]By Mark Halstead

Artificial Intelligence. As a child of the 80s, I remember fondly one of my favorite movies and its subsequent sequels about when the machines gain self-awareness and take over. If you are too young and don’t recall that movie, perhaps you remember the catch […]By Mark Halstead

Welcome to National Athletic Training Month 2025. Each year we highlight several athletic trainers to talk about their roles, some interesting cases, struggles, and advice for those starting out in the field. Today on the podcast, I am joined by two athletic trainers who […]By Mark Halstead

In sports medicine, we see a lot of swollen joints. Typically, they are from an injury, but not every single swollen joint is from something structurally damaged. It may be an inflammatory issue. How do we tease this out as sports medicine professionals? Our […]By Mark Halstead

We are continuing our series of podcasts called “Pediatric Sport Medicine Profiles.” There have been some individuals who have been significantly influential in this pediatric sports medicine, whether it be training many of us, people who have completed critical research, those who have been […]By Mark Halstead

You may have noticed the large puffy extensions on some football helmets in recent years. They are kind of hard to miss. The NFL recommended the Guardian Caps to certain positions for preseason in 2022 and extended their use recently now allowing them for […]By Mark Halstead

We are in our sixth year of the podcast and I’m in the middle of my 20th year as a sports medicine physician. Twenty years flew by which means I’ve probably passed the halfway point in my medical career, unless I feel inspired to […]By Mark Halstead

If you are involved with sports medicine, you have no doubt interacted with someone involved in cheerleading. From young ages, our youth are participating in cheer in various forms in private clubs or through their schools. However, is cheerleading safe? Today on the podcast […]By Mark Halstead

I wanted to take a moment to express my condolences to the Rice family as I found out just a little bit earlier today that doctor Stephen Rice, who we had on the podcast back in April of 2023, so a little over a […]By Mark Halstead

If you are like me, you love the Olympics. Winter or Summer, it doesn’t matter. Watching the best of the best athletes from around the world in so many different sports is just incredible. My wife and I are partial to the track and […]By Mark Halstead

Throughout much of the country, heat and humidity are starting to become the norm. As we inch closer to fall and especially with football practices and camps starting, those of us in sports medicine are on high alert for a potential surge in heat-related […]By Mark Halstead

Youth sports can have many benefits to use. However, the world of youth sports, in some situations, has taken a life of its own. Many young athletes play multiple games in a day, on multiple teams, year-round, and often with added independent skill or […]By Mark Halstead

On a regular basis in sports medicine, we are faced with ethical dilemmas. Whether or not we should allow kids to play certain sports based on injury risk, performance enhancement and equipment advances, treatment interventions, return to play decisions, and conflicts of interest to […]By Mark Halstead

Today on the Pediatric Sports Medicine Podcast we are going to tackle a topic that I would predict that all of us do not get enough of….and that’s sleep. Sleep is a necessity for all of us but it can have a critical role […]By Mark Halstead

We are back to finish out Brain Injury Awareness Month looking at another component of the SCAT6. Today we are going to tackle what I consider to be the “OG” version of the SCAT, otherwise known as the SAC, or the Standardized Assessment of […]By Mark Halstead

March means two things in the world of sports medicine, not counting March Madness. The first is National Athletic Training Month. The second is Brain Injury Awareness Month. In the world of sport-related concussions, it’s an ideal time to continue to bring awareness about […]By Mark Halstead

We are turning the page from our leap year month into March of 2024. It’s time for National Athletic Training Month again. Each year we highlight several athletic trainers to talk about their roles, some interesting cases, struggles, and advice for those starting out […]By Mark Halstead

Dr. Jason Zaremski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at the University of Florida. Dr. Zaremski received his medical degree from Tufts University and then stayed at Tufts to complete his residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is […]By Mark Halstead

If you are coming out of fellowship now, you have requirements for training in the use of ultrasound, both diagnostically and for injections. During my fellowship 20 years ago, we weren’t talking about ultrasound use and I probably missed that boat by about 5 […]By Mark Halstead

As we all know, the world of youth sports today can sometimes be described as sheer chaos for some families. The frequent travel for competitions, the never-ending quest to keep up with the Joneses, the fear of missing out on developing your child if […]By Mark Halstead

Happy New Year everyone! It’s 2024. Sports Medicine had an interesting year and I thought I’d take a brief moment to review some of the most interesting things, in my opinion, of 2023 in the world of sports medicine. Connect with The […]By Mark Halstead

A common question I get in clinic when seeing patients for concussion is “what is the best helmet out there for my son or daughter?” Or what headgear is the best for sports that use headgear instead of helmets? Typically, we have the discussion […]By Mark Halstead

The hip. It’s an area in orthopedics that has seen exponential growth in research over the last several decades. I don’t recall ever talking about hip impingement during my fellowship training 20 years ago. Yet, CAM and pincer impingement as well as labral tears […]By Mark Halstead

The 6th Concussion in Sport Group Meeting was last year around this time and earlier this year in June of 2023 the updated guidance from this group was published. A subtle but important change was made to the return to play progression. I’ve had […]By Mark Halstead

There are a handful of knee injuries that are seen commonly in the adolescent age group. Patellar dislocations and subluxations rank high on that list. However, it’s an injury that is sometimes misunderstood and there has been a tendency in the past to be […]By Mark Halstead

I wanted to try something new today with the podcast. As I’ve become older and more seasoned, I’ve had a growing interest in history and the history of things, particularly in medicine. I was never a big history fan in high school. I tolerated […]By Mark Halstead

I think any of us who are involved in sports medicine and the care of young athletes appreciates those in the media who just get it. I know I’ve been interviewed multiple times over the years for either print articles or for broadcast and […]By Mark Halstead

If you are involved even a little bit with concussion care, you are probably aware that the latest Concussion in Sport Group reports came out mid-week in June 2023. A large series of systematic reviews and updated clinical recommendations were published and are all […]By Mark Halstead

One of the things I have loved about doing this podcast is the ability to educate people. But it’s not only for the education of my listeners, but for me personally as well. In preparation for each episode, I’ll review articles and various online […]By Mark Halstead

It’s Springtime. Baseball season is underway. I don’t know about you, but my offices are a never-ending stream of young throwers from about February to November. There are many reasons for this, of course, but what is the latest research telling us about our […]By Mark Halstead

Fractured collarbones. When I first started my career, the party line for a fractured clavicle was if both ends of the collarbone were in the same state, it will heal fine, and let them be. Then it seemed like there was a push to […]By Mark Halstead

We are continuing with our Profiles in Pediatric Sports Medicine series with our next guest as a recently retired physician from the East Coast. I’ve personally known this guest since my days as a resident interested in Pediatric Sports Medicine as I met him […]By Mark Halstead

What do you think about when you hear someone say Long Term Athlete Development? Do you picture the elite club travel team athlete competing at a high level? The athlete who is part of the professional team development league? How about the grade school […]By Mark Halstead

It is March 2023, and it is National Athletic Training Month again. We are in year three of doing a special episode highlighting athletic trainers. Today on the podcast, I am joined by three athletic trainers who knew me at the very start of […]By Mark Halstead

When I did my training, the standard party line was that if a skeletally immature patient has an ankle injury, is tender over the distal fibular physis and did not really have significant tenderness over the lateral ankle ligaments, the injury should be assumed […]By Mark Halstead

Mindfulness. We hear this word a lot these days. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of mindfulness is the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. If your hospital system or workplace […]…

In the world of sports medicine, I’m sure there are many who would question whether Esports should be considered an actual sport. Interestingly, I don’t think many of us would argue that cheerleading is a sport. However, many of us aren’t advocating to our […]By Mark Halstead

Ice Hockey. Although many think of it as a regional sport, with indoor ice rinks, hockey can be played pretty much anywhere. Having lived most of my life in the Midwest, hockey has been a fixture in those places, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, although I’ve […]By Mark Halstead

We want to start off the New Year with a new feature to the Podcast. I’m calling it “Pediatric Sports Medicine Profiles.” There have been some significantly instrumental individuals who have been influential in this landscape whether it be training many of us, people […]By Mark Halstead

If you hadn’t heard of commotio cordis prior to this past week, you likely have now. On January 2, 2023, Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills made a tackle, got up, and collapsed backwards onto the field. CPR was administered due to cardiac arrest. […]By Mark Halstead

We’re back from a little hiatus. I don’t know about you, but it’s been a super busy fall with sports injuries. I’ve seen some pretty weird injuries this fall and saw a surge in some injuries in my office, such as ACL tears. And […]By Mark Halstead

When I give lectures on growth plate problems, I often present a slide with an x-ray of a knee in a kid who hasn’t fully finished their growth. I outline where the physis, or the growth plate, is. Then we show the metaphysis, or […]By Mark Halstead

What kind of reaction do you get when you read a news article reading about a grade-school kid who’s running a marathon? It typically doesn’t get news coverage because it doesn’t happen often, but if you look at comments on social media there are […]By Mark Halstead

I remember the excitement I had receiving my first sideline team bag as a fellow at Vanderbilt. It was certainly a sturdy bag as I still have it and it has held up better than any bag I’ve purchased since then. It was stocked […]By Mark Halstead

Groin pain. Literally can be a pain to deal with as a sports medicine professional. The source and location of the pain can be vague and may lead someone down the wrong path to diagnosis and treatment. Most people in sports medicine have heard […]By Mark Halstead

While recently browsing through Twitter, I noticed a debate in the athletic training twitter world about whether or not icing is beneficial following an ankle sprain. There was some significant discussion on both sides of the issue, so I thought I’d do a little […]By Mark Halstead

If I was a cleverer Podcast host, I would have timed this better and had my 50th episode coincide with this. But – alas I’m on episode 47. As I turn 50 today, I wanted to take some time to reflect on my career […]By Mark Halstead

As sports medicine professionals, we interact with athletes at all levels. I was one of a handful of sports medicine physicians who started from a pediatric background and work with an NFL team as one of their team physicians. It was a part of […]By Mark Halstead

Athletes with trouble breathing are nothing new. Obviously, athletes may get winded with deconditioning or just a really hard work out. But what about when it isn’t expected? Commonly we think of asthma and as an asthmatic since college, it is a near and […]By Mark Halstead