What is sports medicine?

Sports medicine is concerned with the functioning of the human body during physical activity and with the prevention and treatment of sport injuries. The aim of sports medicine is to deal with the improvement of wellbeing and health of the general population through the promotion of an active lifestyle. Mostly, sports medicine is incorporated into an (sports) orthopaedic/sportsmedicine department and led by orthopedic surgeons specialising in sports related injuries.

It is becoming an increasingly popular field with an increasing number of people getting engaged in physical activity and sports activities in recent years.

It refers to being active in a responsible way, as bodies need energy to engage in sports. That is, if you don’t have the right energy at the moment it’s called for, intense physical activity can lead to injuries as the body is overstressed. This can lead to injuries or illness.

What is really involved in sports medicine?

“It means the whole chain,” doctors say.

Before people start doing all kinds of physical activity or sports, sports medicine doctors will test the participants and let them know what happens with the body when they do sports.

Sports medicine doctors must have a lot of knowledge about the functioning of human mechanics as well as certain sport techniques, such as how to run efficiently, for example. Incorrect form or irregular pace both could reduce efficiencies and overtax the human body.

Sports medicine is preventive medicine. People need to know what’s involved in the sport, their own body, their mental health and their diet, such as what is good for their muscles and energy requirements. Only then should they start doing sports.

The preventive part is even more important. People get evaluated to understand their health situation. This will show whether they can do sports very well.

However, sports medicine is more than that. It is also diagnostics.

If someone gets injured, he might even need surgery, done by an (sports) orthopaedic surgeon.

That’s the whole chain in sports medicine − from preventive advice and diagnostics to surgery, rehabilitation and physical therapy.

Here are some examples. Jogging and tennis are two popular sports.

Running requires people to have good lung and heart conditions, and they can be trained for that.

If you play tennis, it is different. There are a lot of different techniques and movements, which requires the player to run. As such, their heart rate will go up for short time. But if they suffer from pain in some parts of their bodies, their technique will be bad and they won’t be able to hit the ball well.

To the untrained eye, it may appear that the player’s move starts with the racket in hand and the ball, but acutually, the movement of the body should always begin with the big toe, , then foot ankle, knee, hip, back, shoulder, elbow and hand.

If someone has an ache or problem in the shoulder, they won’t hit the ball very well because all parts of the body are involved.

More often than not, people come to see doctors with a problem in their elbow, but the problem actually originates in their shoulder or in their back, or even in their hip.

Is there any misunderstanding?

Yes. The term is sometimes misunderstood because a lot of people believe sports medicine only involves sports. This is not true.

If people just walked more, it would also have an impact on their body, and any activity that impacts the body, its energy or movement is aided by sports medicine.

When people are moving, they have all kinds of mechanisms in their body contributing to the “good feelings” that result, but it can also lead to overuse.

Nutrition is an important part of sports medicine because people need to be healthy − not only in heart and lungs, but also at the source of all-things health-related, diet.

Here are some tips.

Be active, do sports. It’s good to start doing sports anyway.

You will start feeling better when you start being active. If you do it right, you will start feeling better and very healthy. Your heart rate will go down in normal situations, which will make you feel calmer and give you a longer life.

It is highly recommended that people assess their abilities and health conditions prior to engaging in any strenuous sport. The (sports) orthopedic surgeons will know which tests are best, in which sitiation, and for which sport.

If you are not careful, you may get sick or injured in the end.