 Sports medicine is an interdisciplinary subspecialty of medicine which deals with the treatment and preventive care of athletes, both amateur and professional. The sports medicine "team:" includes specialty physicians and surgeons, athletic trainers, physical therapists, coaches, other personnel, and, of course, the athlete.
Sports medicine has always been difficult to define because it is not a single specialty, but an area that involves health care professionals, researchers and educators from a wide variety of disciplines. Its function is not only curative and rehabilitative, but also preventative, which may actually be the most important one of all. Despite this wide scope, there has been a tendency for many to assume that sport-related problems are by default musculoskeletal and that sports medicine is purely an orthopaedic specialty. There is much more to sports medicine than just musculoskeletal diagnosis and treatment. Illness or injury in sport can be caused by many factors - from environmental to physiological and psychological
 Consequently, sports medicine can encompass an array of specialties - cardiology, pulmonology, orthopaedic surgery, exercise physiology, biomechanics, traumatology, etc. For example, heat, cold or altitude during training and competition can alter performance or may even be life threatening. The female triad of disordered eating, menstrual disturbances, and bone density problems, and the problems of pregnant or aging athletes demand knowledge from many diverse fields. In addition, the management of dermatological and endocrinological diseases and other such problems in the athlete demands both medical expertise and sport-specific knowledge. The use of supplements, pharmacological or otherwise, and the topics of doping control and gender verification present complex moral, legal and health-related difficulties. Further unique problems are associated with international sporting events, such as the effects of travel and acclimatization, and the attempt to balance an athlete's participation with his or her health. Much of this draws on new fields of study, in which extensive clinical and basic science research is burgeoning.
Many believe that sports medicine will make its most significant future contributions in the area of prevention. The risk of injury will never be entirely eliminated, but modifications in training techniques, equipment, sports venues and rules, based on outcomes of meaningful research have shown that it can be lowered. One rapidly advancing field with great potential for applications in prevention is the study of the body's neuromuscular adaptations. A study of specific preseason neuromuscular training for soccer players demonstrated a significant decrease in the incidence of anterior cruciate ligament tears. In another study serious injuries in recreational softball were reduced by 98% when breakaway bases were used. Participation in all forms of physical activity at all levels is a huge part of everyday life, and its benefits to health and quality of life are clear. Sports medicine's continued growth and development may help the benefits of physical activity to be fully and safely realized.
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