Sports Medicine

Sports Medicine

The Sports Medicane Profession has responded to the rise in over use injuries by

placing greater emphasis on injury prevention, developing new diagnostic and treatment

techniques, and promoting rehabilitation as an aid to full recovery. This is what Dr. Lyle J.

Micheli, one of the nations foremost sports medicane authorities, calls the "new sports

medicane."

Below is an example of what a typical sports doctor will do before getting their degree:

It has become increasingly evident over the past 25 years that there is a need for

data on injury rates for the variety of sports and physical activities in which people of all

ages are becoming involved. The research literature on the epidemiology of sports-related

injuries has been growing slowly as various individuals and groups have attempted to

gather data on the risks of participating in various sports. Almost all of these attempts

have focused on sports in an organized setting, for younger age groups, and have involved

relatively short-term observations. With the recent increase in participation in general

fitness activities, and with such participation being encouraged by the medical community

as a public health intervention to promote healthy lifestyles, it often is not realized there is

little or no dependable data available to assess the risks involved in participation in

physical activities. Much effort is being expended in defining the benefits of exercise, but

little is being done to define risk levels. Such information is needed in order to make

informed decisions as to the value of participating in a particular activity, and to provide

clues as to how injury rates can be reduced...

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..., running/jogging comprised two-thirds of the exercise sessions

(Table 2). Twenty-one of the subjects ran regularly, averaging nearly 4 sessions per week,

50 minutes per session, and 9.3 km per session at a pace of 5:24/km. Table 2 summarizes

the exposure data for the three predominant activities (running, walking and weightlifting),

and the cumulative totals for the other exercise activities, which included swimming,

cycling, tennis, aerobics, rowing, stair climbing, water running, basketball, and various

field events (long jump, pole vault, shot put, etc.). Although a majority of the subjects

were from a local masters track club, each subject participated regularly in an average of

2.2 different exercise activities, and participated at least once during the period of this

study in an average of 3.4 different exercise activities.