Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the late 20th century that sports medicine emerged as a distinct field of health care. In over 50 countries, sports medicine (or sport and exercise medicine) is a recognized medical specialty (with similar training and standards to other medical specialties or sub-specialties). In the majority of countries where sports medicine is recognized and practiced, it is a physician (non-surgical) specialty, but in some (such as the USA), it can equally be a surgical or non-surgical medical specialty, and also a specialty field within primary care. In other contexts, the field of sports medicine encompasses the scope of both medical specialists as well as allied health practitioners who work in the field of sport, such as physiotherapists, athletic trainers, podiatrists and exercise physiologists.
Scope Sports medicine can refer to the specific medical specialty or subspecialty of several medical and research disciplines in sports. Sports medicine may be called Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM), which is now well established in many countries. It can broadly also refer to physicians, scientists, trainers, and other paramedical practitioners who work in a broad setting. Sports medicine specialists include a broad range of professions. All sports medicine specialists have one main goal in mind, to heal and rehabilitate injuries for return to everyday life and return to play, as well as to prevent future injuries. They work with all different types of people, and not just athletes. The various sports medicine experts often work together as a team to ensure the best recovery plan for the individual. Team members can include orthopedic surgeons, certified athletic trainers, sports physical therapists, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists, and specialty SEM physicians. Research within the field is also highly multidisciplinary. A 2023 systematic review noted a 12.1% increase in female authorship in major orthopedic sports medicine journals, with nearly 60% of this growth driven by professionals holding degrees other than an MD. Specializing in the treatment of athletes and other physically active individuals, SEM physicians have extensive education in musculoskeletal medicine. SEM doctors treat injuries such as muscle, ligament, tendon and bone problems, but may also treat chronic illnesses that can affect physical performance, such as asthma and diabetes. SEM doctors also advise on managing and preventing injuries. European templates for SEM specialization generally recommend four years of experience in:
internal medicine with special emphasis on cardiology, emergency medicine and clinical nutrition orthopedics and traumatology physical and rehabilitation medicine fellowship at a recognized sports medicine centre.
Related medical specialties Exercise medicine Podiatry Sports cardiology Emergency medicine Lifestyle medicine General practice Adolescent medicine Physical medicine and rehabilitation Rheumatology Orthopaedic sports medicine Pediatrics Occupational medicine
Establishment as a medical specialty
Historical roots of sports medicine Although sports medicine was only established formally as a specialty in the 20th Century, the history of doctors having involvement in treating athletes goes back to ancient times in Greek, Roman and Egyptian societies.
Modern establishment of the specialty Continental European countries were the first to establish medical groups with a focus on sport in the earliest part of the 20th Century. Possibly the earliest establishment of a society of Sports Medicine was the DGSP in Germany in 1912. The Italian version of this page Medicina dello sport states that Sports Medicine societies were first established in Switzerland (1922) followed by France (1929) and Italy (1929) (Italian Sports Medicine Federation). In Germany in the 1920s, an attempt was made to upskill thousands of doctors and other health professionals in sport and exercise medicine, without establishing it as a distinct specialty at that stage, but it failed due to lack of funding in the Depression. Sports medicine was established as a distinct specialty in Italy, the first country to do so, in 1958. The European Union of Medical Specialists has defined necessary training requirements for the establishment of the specialty of Sports Medicine in a given European country. In May 2024, the EU approved cross recognition of sports medicine qualifications between 11 different countries. It is a goal of the European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations to eventually establish Sports Medicine as a specialty in all European countries. In Australia and New Zealand, Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is a stand-alone medical specialty, with the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians being one of Australia's 15 recognized medical specialty Colleges. Australia, New Zealand and the UK have been cited as pioneer countries in the establishment of SEM as a stand-alone specialty. The USA (and many other countries) follow the model of recognizing Sports Medicine as an official subspecialty of multiple other primary medical specialties. The most common primary specialties prior to a sports medicine subspecialty in the USA are family practice, orthopedics and physiatry.
Public health SEM physicians are frequently involved in promoting the therapeutic benefits of physical activity, exercise and sport for the individuals and communities. SEM Physicians in the UK spend a period of their training in public health, and advise public health physicians on matters relating to physical activity promotion.
Common sports injuries
Common sports injuries that can result in seeing a sports medicine specialist are knee and shoulder injuries, fractures, ankle sprains, concussions, cartilage injuries, and more. A sports medicine specialist can also be seen for advice in other areas of health, like nutrition, exercise, supplements, and how to prevent injuries before they occur. A sports medicine specialist works to help make the performance of the athlete more advanced, as well as ensuring their safety while performing the activity. Sports injuries generally affect soft tissue or bones within the body and are commonly treated without surgery.
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