History of Medicine

The concept of a team doctor is thought to have started when a Canadian doctor, Dr. J.C. Kennedy,  first organized a medical team to travel with the 1972 Canadian Olympic team to Munich. Such was the impact of that decision that bringing along specialized sports physicians to high-level sporting events soon became standard practice. The team physician's job is to ensure the health and performance of the athletes. Now each professional sports team has its own team medical staff that travels with and treats the athletes to personal medical care. Although the concept has gained popularity only recently, the world's first team doctor is really Galen (real name: Claudius Galenos), the renowned Greek physician of the 2nd century AD. Galen started off his career as a personal doctor to the gladiators in a gladiatorial school in Pergamum, where he learned much of his knowledge about treating wounds. He was responsible for the health and well-being of the gladiators and also responsible

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 diffe

A list of the weirdest and most fascinating trivia about ancient sports that I found. 1. Mayans played a game similar to basketball with human skulls.💀 2. Ancient Olympic runners ran stark naked. The tradition began when a runner lost his loincloth while running and tripped on it. Soon it became a tradition to run without any clothes on. And after a female coach was caught disguised as a man to coach her son (females were banned from participating or coaching in ancient Greece 😒), all coaches were required to be naked too (to prove they were males)! 3. Nudity even gave us the word gymnasium -- it is derived from the ancient Greek word for naked,  gymnos .  4. One running event called Hoplitodromos required athletes to run decked out in full armor (while still naked!), The armor weighed 70 pounds- when they tried to recreate the sport recently, no one was able to go more than halfway of the 400 meters,  Amphora showing Hoplitodromos sport 5. Other sports required nudity as well-- in w

As the Tokyo Olympic Games kick off amid all the controversy regarding the decision to hold the games during a surge in covid-19 cases, it's time to celebrate the essence and history of the Olympic Games. The modern Olympics, held every four years are of course modeled after the ancient Olympic Games, known as "Olympiaki agones" as a series of athletic competitions among city-states of ancient Greece. As with all things in ancient Greece, the games had mythological origin and were held in honor of Zeus. His son, Heracles (Roman Hercules) is credited as the founder of the games. The first Olympics was held in 776 BCE (according to Aristotle) and soon became the most popular sporting event for centuries in ancient Greece. It was held every four years like the modern version of the games but it was held in the same location, Olympia, each time. Winners were honored with an olive branch It continued without interruption for almost 12 centuries (until 393 AD when the stadium w

As medicine developed independently in all of the ancient civilizations, it is interesting to note the many similarities in beliefs and practices; however, there were also some important distinctions in all four of the major civilizations. Although I touched upon it in my previous post, I wanted to explore and highlight the similarities and differences among the four medical sciences in more detail. Cause of Disease Supernatural forces: Both Mesopotamian and Egyptian medicine believed that disease was caused by supernatural forces and not natural causes. Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians alike blamed various gods, demons and spirits for disease- each spirit was responsible for one disease. Although Mesopotamians knew that various organs in the body could malfunction and lead to disease, they attributed the malfunction to an evil spirit. Likewise, Egyptians believed spirits blocked channels in the body and caused its malfunction. Body Imbalance: Indian and Chinese medicine, on the o

Although western medicine has its roots in the Classical Greek civilization, the history of medicine dates back thousands of years before Classical Greece. Medicine started developing as a science in the earliest human civilizations and developed independently in all four of the major ancient civilizations: • Babylon/Mesopotamia • Egypt • India • China They represent four of the oldest branches of medicine with each developing independently and presumably without any interaction or influence from each other. And yet, they have many similarities. Ancient medicine in (clockwise from top left) Babylon, Egypt, China, and India  Babylon Babylonians believed that diseases were caused by supernatural forces (gods and demons) and therefore, did not distinguish between magic and medicine, yet they introduced the practice of diagnosis and prognosis. Treatment included identifying the illness according to the power that caused it, and treating it with medical agents and rituals to appease t

Although not directly related to medicine, I decided to explore the origin of tennis, which I find from my own personal experience, to be a fantastic sport for physical health and mental health. My Varsity season recently ended after an exciting season (and an unusual one with masks and all) that ended with a close semifinal loss to two-time State champs, Acton-Boxboro. The thought of having to wait another nine months for tennis season made me nostalgic, and I decided to write a blog about tennis exploring how and when the sport started and if it existed in the Classical world. Turns out, tennis was not played in its current form during the Classical period, but there were similar games played by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans that can be considered precursors to tennis. The name tennis itself is thought to be derived from the ancient Egyptian town Tinnis, while the Arabic word for the palm of the hand, rahat , is thought to have led to the word racket ( or racquet as som