|
- Sports Medicine has been a recognized subspecialty of the American Board of Medical Subspecialties since 1989. Sports Medicine physicians carry a primary certification in either Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics or Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, as well as secondary certification in Sports Medicine, obtained after graduation from an accredited fellowship program and subsequent passing of the board certification exam.
- Sports Medicine physicians undergo extensive training in musculoskeletal medicine. While sports orthopedic surgeons focus primarily on the operative treatment of musculoskeletal injuries, Sports Medicine physicians specialize in the non-operative treatment of these injuries. This represents the great majority of the active population, since approximately 90 percent of all sports injuries are non-surgical. Common examples of musculoskeletal problems include sprains, dislocations, acute joint injuries, fractures, tendonitis or stress fractures.
- Sports Medicine physicians are biomechanists at heart. We understand how to take a patient's pain complaint and evaluate the cause in light of total body function -- a holistic approach to care.
- Sports Medicine physicians also receive additional training in the non-musculoskeletal aspects of sports medicine, such as concussion managment, infectious disease issues in sport, nutrition and performance, exercise-related shortness of breath, exercise-related menstrual dysfunction, exercise prescription and training enhancement.
- The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) was organized in 1991 by a group of family physicians who recognized the need for an organization within the field of Sports Medicine that addressed health and functional capacity as it relates to the whole patient, and the incorporation of an objectively verifiable knowledge base towards enhancement and preservation of function. The AMSSM was formed to provide a link between the rapidly expanding core of knowledge related to sports medicine and its application to patients in a clinical setting. For more information about the AMSSM, please call (913)327-1415, or visit their website at www.amssm.org.
|
