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Sports Medicine

Who hasn't seen an athlete with a sports tape (aka kinesiology tape) applied strategically to their knee, shoulder, or some other part? Circular red welts on swimmers' torsos became a common sight after  Michael Phelps introduced the practice of cupping at the Rio Olympics (I remember someone asking if he had accidentally fallen asleep on his medals and suffered bruises from them!) 😀. It is now common practice for athletes to consult with doctors specialized in treating sports injuries and ensuring they are in their best physical (and mental) condition. The latest to demonstrate this is Simone Biles who withdrew from the Olympics team gymnastics event after consulting with her medical staff to focus on her mental health.

Sports medicine is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on the treatment and prevention of illness and injury caused by exercising, participating in a sport, or doing any type of physical activity. Sports physicians require additional training in different aspects of medicine-- biomechanics, psychology, rehabilitation, epidemiology, physiology, and nutrition-- after being certified as a physician in internal medicine, emergency medicine, family medicine, or another specialty. 

Considering that sports have only in recent years attained the status of a professional career, it is interesting that the origin of sports medicine actually goes back several millennia to the Classical Age. Ancient Greeks were great lovers of sports, and it is therefore not surprising that specialized doctors were needed to ensure the athletes were in their best form or help them recover from injury. The ancient Olympic games are in fact credited to giving birth to the concept of sports medicine.

Athletes receiving medical attention

Sports medicine as a specialized science began in the Hippocrates era (5th century BC). In fact, it was one of Hippocrates' teachers, Herodicus, who first combined sports with medicine. Herodicus was actually a sports teacher who later studied medicine and taught in a renowned Greek medical school. Herodicus considered bad health to be the result of an imbalance between diet and physical activity and promoted strict diet, constant physical activity, and regular training for athletes. Because of his foundational theories on diet and therapeutic exercise, Herodicus is considered the Father of Sports Medicine. 

Herodicus

Sports medicine also got a boost during gladiator games in the Roman Empire. The famous Greek physician himself was hired as a personal doctor to the gladiators in a gladiatorial school in Pergamum where he specialized in treating wounds. 

The concept of sports medicine pretty much disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire, because interest in sports declined after the Greeks and the Romans and remained so for centuries. It was only in the 19th century that interest in sports and subsequently, sports medicine, began to revive. Soon after that, the modern Olympics were born.


Sources:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16951976/
https://www.germanjournalsportsmedicine.com/archiv/archiv-2012/heft-1/medicine-in-the-ancient-olympics/

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