subject: Sport Medicine Specialists Can Boost Your Performance [print this page] Sports Medicine Specialists Sports Medicine Specialists
Sports Medicine Specialists are medical professionals that lead a team comprising of specialty physicians, surgeons, physical therapists, athletic trainers, coaches and athletes. Essentially, they are physicians with additional training and expertise in sports medicine, pediatrics, physical medicine and rehabilitation. Additionally, they may be members of sports medicine societies that keep them up to date in their field.
Roles & Responsibilities Of Sports Medicine Specialists
Sports Medicine Specialists, while serving as team physicians, play an extremely important role and are instrumental in getting the best out of an athlete. Only a physically fit sportsperson can carry the confidence to perform at their best, and as such the responsibility of the Sports Medicine Specialists is two-fold; to nurture the player physically as well as psychologically. The major roles and responsibilities of Sports Medicine Specialists can be summed up as follows:
Its the responsibility of the Sports Medicine Specialist to conduct a thorough pre-participation physical examination.
When an injury is diagnosed, the Sports Medicine Specialist assesses its severity and provides a course of action for its healing.
Sports Medicine Specialists stay in continuous communication with the athletes to keep track of their progress.
Its the responsibility of a Sports Medicine Specialist to create awareness regarding the use of supplements and drugs among their patient/athletes.
A balanced diet, injury prevention, counseling and educating the players about health related issues are the goals of the Sports Medicine Specialist.
Sports Medicine Specialists are additionally trained to deal with non-musculoskeletal aspects of sports. Few examples can be listed as follows:
Mild traumatic injuries
Conditioning and strength training
Promotion of healthy lifestyle, etc.
Thus, Sports Medicine Specialists play a significant role in boosting the performance of an athlete. Proper healing and rehabilitation efforts by Sports Medicine Specialist can extend an athletes career by one or two year, a real bonus for most of the players who already have short career spans. Often players tend to neglect minor injuries, which may have terrible consequences to their careers. Players should seek medical attention when they feel a slight but persistent annoyance or discomfort and seek the help of a trained Sports Medicine Specialist.
