On August 11th, UOA’s Dr. Patrick Buckley was a featured speaker and moderator on the webinar, “Student Athletes: Returning to Training and Competition Following COVID-19.” The webinar addressed the topic of student athletes returning to sports in the current COVID-19 landscape. Dr. Buckley discussed the challenges of returning youth athletes to their sport while also keeping athletes, parents, and coaches safe.  

Leading sports medicine physicians within Hackensack Meridian Health network provided practical recommendations for ways to gradually increase athletes’ endurance, flexibility and stamina in a scheduled manner. They also discussed how to overcome the challenges of in-home workouts, such as minimal equipment, and how an athlete can transform these challenges and workouts into success on and off the field.

Orthopaedic expert Patrick S. Buckley, M.D., among others, lectured on the following topics:

• The current landscape of youth sports
• Risks of returning to sports too quickly
• Understanding the concern for overuse injuries due to recent relative inactivity
• Creating home workout routines and strategies to build endurance, flexibility and strength
• How to safely return to sports participation and competition while still limiting risk pertaining to COVID-19

Dr. Patrick S. Buckley is a fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeon at University Orthopaedic Associates (UOA). Dr. Buckley is a sports medicine specialist with advanced training in the treatment of knee, shoulder and hip injuries. He has extensive experience working with both athletes of all ages and skill levels. He is a physician for the US Olympic Ski and Snowboard team, an assistant team physician for the Premier Lacrosse League, and is the head team physician for Neptune High School.

Contact our office to make an appointment with Dr. Buckley or one of our other orthopaedic specialists to discuss returning to sports, safely returning to training, or to discuss any concerns about persistent or new injuries.