CBS 2: How Modern Sports Medicine Is Prolonging Careers of Professional Athletes

CBS 2 recently interviewed Michael Banffy, MD, chief of Sports Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, about how professional athletes are extending their careers well beyond traditional limits.

Banffy told CBS LA Mornings anchors Sheba Turk and Jamie Yuccas that many athletes now compete into their late 30s and 40s largely because they better understand what the body needs to stay healthy.

“We know how to take care of ourselves better,” he said. “We know the importance of recovery, of sleep, of rest.”

Athletes who compete at this stage of their careers, Banffy told Turk and Yuccas, are “the elite of the elite” and have “harnessed that ability to increase their capacity, their tolerance. They’ve adapted to the physical forces that they put themselves through to be able to continue their career.”

Mental preparation also plays an important role, he said. Older athletes must recognize that they may not perform exactly as they did earlier in their careers, while also considering the physical toll of competition and time away from their families.

Banffy also pointed to training load management: tracking how much stress an athlete’s body experiences and adjusting workouts accordingly. Improved techniques and technology allow teams to measure that strain and identify when an athlete needs to rest and recover.

“We don’t need to go into the gym seven days a week and work out for three hours a day,” he said. “All it’s going to do is lead to injury.”

Banffy told Turk and Yuccas the same principles apply to recreational athletes, who should avoid overtraining and prioritize recovery rather than chasing shortcuts.

“Peptides are all the rage,” he said. “That’s not the answer. The answer is nutrition and recovery.”

Watch the complete segment from CBS 2.