You won’t find a “quick fix” for an injury at A+ Sports Medicine, but you will find what Dr. Alan Redlich describes as an integrative sports medicine practice.
“Taking the time to get people to heal themselves, that’s a big part of my philosophy,” said Redlich, who opened the office in July 2009. The goal is still to heal patients quickly, but not to find a “quick fix” that could still leave a chronic or lingering injury, Redlich said.
Treatment at A+ is not just a regular dose of meds or a corrective surgery. Patients at A+ can be given home exercise prescriptions, acupuncture treatments or hands-on osteopathic medicine (similar to two-person stretching). Though not done in the office, physical therapy may also be prescribed at another location.
Generally, Redlich, 36, tries to avoid prescribing medication as a means of treatment. But he will use it when necessary, and has braces, splints, crutches and shoe inserts readily available as well.
The treatments are all geared towards chronic pain as well as acute injuries.
A+ Sports is open to kids, teens and adults, and despite its name, it’s not just limited to sports injuries.
“It’s working with athletes, but also with people who are active, trying to be fit,” Redlich said. “It’s for people who not only do their sport, but do their activities and live their life.”
Patients can include someone who suffers chronic knee pain, and whether it’s the result of arthritis or a torn ligament or tendon, Redlich said a course of treatment would be prescribed.
The use of acupuncture in the office came from a mix of patients’ requests and his own recommendations, Redlich said.
“We’ll evaluate you and see if it’s appropriate, because not all the time is it appropriate for someone to come in and go right to acupuncture…We don’t want to just be treating symptoms,” Redlich said. “We want to try to get to the source of the problem, but [acupuncture] is a useful tool for pain management.”
Redlich said that acupuncture is very good for people already on a lot of medication, who don’t want to add another to the mix.
Anyone familiar with sports injuries knows that the acronym RICE stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation, and that RICE is an effective tool in recovery. But in Redlich’s office, he’ll tell you it’s PRICE.
“I would add a ‘P’ for ‘protect,’” Redlich said. “If someone sprains their ankle, you want to protect that area from further injury.”
After working at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Redlich is glad to have established a practice close to home.
“While I was down at the shore, I was living in this area,” Redlich said. “So I finally said, I’d like to open my own practice, and treat people in the community in which I live and serve.”
Another way he does that is by working as the school and team physician for the past seven years in the Allentown school district, and for the past two years in the Hightstown school district.
Married with two children, Redlich currently lives in Allentown. He is also a member of the medical advisory panel at the University Medical Center at Princeton and a member of the integrative academy of medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital.
A+ Athlete Sports Medicine is located at 38A Robbinsville-Allentown Road in Robbinsville. For more information, go online to AplusAthlete.com, or call (609) 223-2288 for office hours.
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