When most people hear “sports medicine,” they picture professional athletes, torn ACLs, and injuries that happen under stadium lights. For Dr. Justin Harrington, sports medicine is much bigger than that.

Recently relocating to Tennessee after completing a sports medicine fellowship in Rochester, New York, Harrington brings a perspective to Hughston Clinic Orthopedics centered on movement, quality of life, and helping patients return to the activities that matter most to them.

Growing up in Southern California, Harrington eventually attended medical school in Indianapolis before returning to California for his orthopedic residency. It was during his training that he found himself drawn to the mechanical nature of orthopedics.

Unlike areas of medicine that primarily rely on medications to influence what is happening inside the body, orthopedics allowed Harrington to address a problem physically.

“Something is broken. It’s not functioning appropriately,” Harrington explained. “How can I mechanically, physically alter it, change it, fix it so that it’s working appropriately again?”

Sports medicine took that interest a step further.

Today, minimally invasive arthroscopic techniques allow surgeons to perform procedures through small incisions using cameras and specialized instruments. In many cases, procedures that once required opening an entire joint can now be performed with considerably less disruption to the surrounding tissue.

But the technology is only part of what attracted Harrington to the field.

For him, sports medicine is ultimately about helping people regain something they feel an injury has taken away.

That patient could be a competitive athlete trying to regain the final few percentage points of performance. It could also be a recreational athlete trying to get back on the pickleball court, a gardener struggling with shoulder pain, or someone who wants to wash their hair without discomfort.

The “sport” is different for everyone.

“It’s getting them back to engaging in their life and their surroundings and relationships with people the way that they want to,” Harrington said.

That distinction becomes especially important when treating high-performing athletes. Someone functioning at 50 percent who improves to 80 percent may experience a dramatic improvement in quality of life. For an elite athlete already performing at 95 percent, however, that final five percent can determine whether they remain competitive.

Those differences also mean treatment cannot be one-size-fits-all.

Harrington points out that a 19-year-old Division I football player recovering from an ACL injury should not necessarily follow the same path as a 55-year-old recreational athlete with the same injury. Their bodies may share a diagnosis, but their goals are completely different.

That individualized approach extends beyond athletes altogether.

Whether someone is trying to return to competition, hiking, gardening, strength training or simply moving comfortably through everyday life, Harrington believes successful sports medicine begins by understanding what the patient actually wants to get back to doing.

Because ultimately, sports medicine isn’t just about returning people to sports.

It’s about returning people to their lives.

Learn more about Dr. Harrington click here.