Sports Medicine is glamorous name for physical rehabilitation following minor to serious injury trauma from accidents, sports and other manners of suffering. The ultimate goal of sports medicine is rapid healing and preventative medicine or preventative injury in sports with physical activities designed for physical fitness.

"Rehabilitation pain" is a term Dr. Jensen coined decades ago to describe the difference between proactive physical activities while injured and the more common, do-nothing, "use-plenty-of-pain-medication" approach to recovery. The downside to proactive or aggressive rehabilitation is that re-injury pain is very similar to rehabilitation pain. Many argue that purposely produced pain is masochistic or self-destructive.

However, to achieve one's best and to surpass that level of best -- e.g. if one can lift five pounds five times before fatigue and or pain sets in -- it is that very pain (the tearing down of tissues) that rebuilds tissues and allows one to soon lift ten pounds ten times. Thus, today's best becomes a warm-up activity to the future or new best, a potential endless spectrum of greater achievement.

Injury has an automatic internal unconsciousness to prevent re-injury. Rehabilitation pain is similar to the above example. The problem with pain medication is that it suppresses healing at the injury/trauma site where the mind is capable of establishing pain management and rapid repair. One is able to heal more quickly and completely when one is willing to experience rehabilitation pain, particularly at the trauma site, and to distinguish between re-injury pain and rehabilitation pain.

Thus, rapid healing is not a pursuit of pain, but rather a higher order of self awareness, one which involves self-empowerment or self-improvement, not suffering. It is the act of setting a limit today, a threshold that cannot be crossed today. But tomorrow or the day after, it will be easily passed.

Dr. Jensen has worked with many individual and team athletes, some at the Olympic and professional level, some gold, silver and bronze medalists. Each individual and each team member was taught to deal with personal pain, workout and physical conditioning pain, and competition pain, and to rise to the level of excellence within his or her potential.

Many of these athletes were injured in their sport, during training or competition or in traffic accidents and other common traumas that befall all of us. In every case, those that considered retirement from competition prior to treatment went on to even greater success at their respective level, whether at the university, Olympic, professional or physical fitness levels. Thus, their injuries became a cornerstone for greater success.