Prevention and recognition of athletic injuries

Participation in athletics is a privilege involving both responsibilities and rights. The athlete's responsibilities are to play fair, keep in training, and to conduct himself with credit to his sport and his school. In turn, he has a right to optimal protection against injury and this may be assured through good conditioning and technical instruction, proper regulations and conditions of play, and adequate health supervision. With the number of people involved in all types of recreation in sports, and the high injury rate even in noncontact sports, there is an ever increasing. need to make these activities as safe as possible. There are a number of factors that must be considered if sports and recreational activities are to be kept safe and if proper treatment is to be administered. What is sports medicine? Sports medicine is the study of problems and the application of solution to the problems as they relate to the physiological, psychological, and pathological nature of the athlete. It involves sports, but is not limited to organized athletics; it involves medicine, but is not limited to injuries. Sports medicine concerns itself with the health implications of the organism and physical activity; thus, sports medicine spans the gamut from the highly trained athlete who is endowed with sufficient skill and a physique to participate in modern competitive athletics with great intensity and diversity, to the neophyte “little leaguer,” who often lacks skill and physique and who might play in the vacant lot without supervision.