Sports Medicine is the field of medicine concerned with injuries sustained in athletic endeavors, including their prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The purpose of injury prevention and treatment is to maintain optimal health and maximize peak performance. Traditionally, sports medicine was the sole domain of the team doctor, who worked mostly with college, professional, and Olympic athletes. Today, however, the sports medicine team is comprised of many disciplines including, for example, athletic training, biomechanics, exercise physiology, and nutrition. Sports medicine specialists also work with non-professional athletes and those participating in various recreational activities, for example children involved in youth sports or older adults training for foot races.

Strict categorizing of a specific discipline (for example, exercise physiologist, dietitian, biomechanist) to either sports medicine or exercise science is difficult. It simply depends on the emphasis and application of the setting in which one works. What is important to understand is that many different disciplines comprise what is called sports medicine and exercise science. And they work together as a team in order to understand and ultimately improve the health and performance of the whole individual. Without this multidisciplinary approach to the whole person, the end result tends to be less than optimal. A rigorous training program, for example, may have little impact on the health or performance of an individual if nutritional considerations are neglected.

For more information visit: