Sports medicine has been around for centuries, but in modern times, it has become increasingly more prevalent. Despite overlaps in skillsets, sports medicine physicians are not physical therapists or solely work with athletes. Sports medicine physicians work with all physically active people, diagnosing and treating different injuries and pathology in primary care and subspecialty settings. Oftentimes, sports medicine physicians can solve for answers to ailments that previously seemed out of reach.
Whitney Nielsen is a licensed clinical social worker in Cedar City. In 2007, she broke her right leg, a compound fracture that led to multiple surgeries. Following treatments and physical therapy, she could walk but felt constant knee pain and couldn’t walk long distances or run. For years, she felt limited in the activities she enjoyed.
Whitney was almost resigned to the idea she had to live with this discomfort for her life but sought professional help anyways, especially after becoming a mother and wanting to be more active. During a Cedar City health fair in 2024, she found a flyer promoting sports medicine, specifically primary care sports physician Dr. Nathaniel Nye, and she booked an appointment with him.
Meeting Dr. Nye changed her exercise trajectory and attitude. While previous specialists only attributed her pain to the trauma of her injury and prior surgeries, Dr. Nye went further as he observed her standing and trying to jog. He theorized one of Whitney's nerves in her right leg was stuck to scar tissue, causing irritation with any movement. Dr. Nye performed a saphenous nerve hydrodissection, which takes an ultrasound of the leg and inserts water to separate the nerve from the scar tissue.
Ultrasound techniques may not sound typical for sports medicine, but per Dr. Nye, it's a required skill for his profession. "With good training, it’s a powerful tool to identify injuries," he said. "That makes it a more timely and accurate diagnosis, when you might have previously had to wait a couple weeks [for an] MRI and then do a follow up visit; now the injury is several weeks old, when you could have known right then and there." Whitney called the treatment an overnight difference. “There were certain weightlifting movements I've been trying to do where my knee would crumble in pain before I could get the full range of motion," she said. "He did that hydrodissection; I went back, and that helped so much.”
Now that the pain was alleviated, Dr. Nye focused on Whitney's running form. He spent several visits teaching her how to improve through reading material, instructional videos, and treadmill practice. He explained the core traits of running; the habits that could have contributed to her pain; and even the shoes she wore. Although her discomfort didn't completely disappear, Whitney became more mobile with her newfound knowledge. “I recently did some sprinting intervals, which I never would have been able to do six months ago," she said. "I may not ever become an avid runner, but just [Dr. Nye] suggesting, ‘Are you willing to try something else? Are you willing to put in a little more work to try this?’ totally changed my future in running.”
Through his years in the military, Dr. Nye studied and practiced the mechanics of running, educating trainees on proper form. "It was upgrading their hardware and software," he explained. "Running is a skill that's learned, but it also depends on your body. You have to have muscles and joints that work well with balanced strength, flexibility, and control. You have to do a lot of rehabilitation and upgrading your musculature, ligaments, and tendons, but also learning the skill, so it's like a 'hardware and software' thing."
Whitney credited Dr. Nye for his creative and patient-centered approach to her care. “I have never seen anybody be so personally invested and interested in someone's well-being.” But Whitney was also impressed with Dr. Nye's own enthusiasm. "He's just this wealth of knowledge and knows so much science behind all of this without overwhelming me," she said. "He was so encouraging through the process, so [he] never let me feel defeated."
For his part, Dr. Nye said with all his patients, he listens intently without jumping to conclusions. "The human body is much more complex than we can appreciate, and it takes work to think through a lot of that complexity," he said. "I try to do that with every person. I feel like that's what I would want and what I would want my family to have. I had excellent mentors and faculty when I was in training, which really opened my eyes to being able to look deeper."