The sports medicine is a branch of specialization of the medical sciences whose main focus is on the effects of physical activity and sport on people's health. It also deals with aspects related to the prevention and treatment of sports injuries and pathologies..
Sports medicine is applied in various fields, such as Olympic training, elite athletes, development of public health policies, and patient rehabilitation. Broadly speaking, sports medicine is divided into three categories of study: basic, clinical and science applied to sports.
Basic sports medicine deals with aspects such as the biomechanics, physiology and anatomy of sports. Clinical sports medicine deals with the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries. Medicine and science applied to sports focus on aspects such as psychology or nutrition.
Sports medicine is often considered a multidisciplinary science within general medicine. This is because it is in charge of reviewing both the medical and technical aspects, as well as the psychological and pedagogical aspects of the patient..
One of its main objectives is to study the effort capacity of the patient and based on this, develop forms of physical conditioning that help them to improve themselves. This happens both in patients who are active, sedentary or who need to rehabilitate from discomfort and injuries.
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Physical activity, sport, are natural behaviors attributable to the very nature of humans. Therefore, its existence dates back to the very origin of our species. However, there is clear evidence of the use of sport for "curative" purposes..
Over the years, both the activities and the way of understanding sports and medicine have changed radically.
The first records of physical activity for medical purposes date back to 2500 BC. C. As is known, the Taoists (Chinese monks) were the first to establish a sports discipline that served to "purify the soul".
Arthava-Veda, a guide found in India, also detailed a series of joint mobility routines for therapeutic purposes. The compendium is believed to have been created in 800 BC. C.
However, the formal idea that sport and health were associated and that their regular practice led to optimal physical condition, arises in Ancient Greece. The philosopher Heródicus, was in charge of teaching about sport and years later he began his studies in medicine.
According to him, there was a direct relationship between sport, nutrition and health. He was in fact the first scientist to recommend physical exercise and strict diets, during the 5th century BC. During his years of work he taught at the Cos School of Medicine, where Hippocrates was trained, who is believed to have been his pupil..
But without a doubt it is Claudius Galenus (131-201 BC), who is considered to this day as the father of sports medicine. His views were state-of-the-art and he was the first to consider the opinion of the clinician in monitoring physical activity. He also recommended ball games and advocated physical massage to avoid injuries.
While for the Greeks sport was an almost sacred practice, the Etruscans understood physical activity as a spectacle. This idea would be taken to the extreme during Ancient Rome in the well-known "Roman circuses", where fights between gladiators would frequently lead to the death of one of them..
The first large urban concentrations in proto-cities during the Middle Ages, facilitated the emergence of team sports. Large groups of people gathered in squares to practice different sports similar to current football and hockey..
For their part, the nobles spent their free time practicing cavalry, war games and fighting. Its access to green spaces in the palaces, favored the appearance of games that would be early versions of the fronton and tennis.
The ideas of Galenus marked centuries of history. It was only in the Renaissance when other innovative ideas emerged, in this case during the 1500s at the hands of Hieronymous Mercurialis. In his work Gymnastic art book, manages to structure exercise as a form of treatment and insists that healthy people should also practice sports (contrary to the ideas of the time).
Despite the passage of time and multiple advances, sports medicine began to be considered as an entity in itself only in the twentieth century. During the 1928 Olympic Games, the first international congress of Sports Medicine was organized.
It is then that the role of this branch of medicine in sporting events begins to be seriously considered, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation protocols are established..
Finally and closer to our time, sports medicine is recognized as a sub-branch of medical sciences, in 1989.
Thanks to many years of studies, analysis and empirical evidence, sports medicine has managed, among others, to establish that physical activity practiced without control or supervision can become harmful to the body.
This is why within the main objectives of this discipline, we can detail:
Either within professional or amateur competitions, regardless of the age and gender of those who participate. The physical or sports manifestations of the attendees must be supervised by an athlete.
Avoid the development of pathologies associated with physical activity, whether in professional, amateur, official or training practices.
The most common aspect of sports medicine, hands down. It refers to the healing of injuries and the reversal of physical pathologies associated with the mobility of the skeletal-muscular system.
It focuses on the development and preparation of training routines and work teams, making sure that the activities are appropriate for each person according to the work objective.
Prior to the start of any training (usually in the professional field), the sports doctor is in charge of observing and requesting studies that allow a complete idea of the athlete's physical state.
According to the type of problem, patient or branch of application of sports medicine, there are different methods of work and study. However, in general terms, there are common protocols that cover the entirety of this discipline..
One of the most important aspects is prevention. Functional evaluations are nothing more than studies requested by the professional, in order to have a full knowledge of the functional capacity of your patient.
These studies are known as sports-physical assessment plans and include aspects such as:
Complete medical history analysis: It serves to understand the patient's / athlete's history, what problems they went through in the past, what are the problem work areas or movements.
Lab tests: stool, urine and / or blood analyzes serve to determine the health status and whether or not there are biochemical alterations in the patient.
Radiological studies: X-ray examinations (radiographs) are a tool to know if there are previous or potential injuries or bone damage.
Anthropometric analysis: focuses on the physical aspects of the athlete such as composition (weight and height), body fat index, lean mass, bone weight, among other parameters.
Electrocardiographic studies: It is a series of analyzes focused on corroborating the behavior of the heart.
Ergometry: Complementary to the stress test, it is used to know the performance capacity, that is, the oxygen consumption during physical activity.
Stress test: The study is carried out while the athlete / patient is engaged in physical activity, often on treadmills or stationary bicycles, while being monitored by teams supervised by a professional. Here both aerobic and anaerobic capacity are evaluated.
Spirometry: focuses on evaluating the respiratory-pulmonary capacity of the athlete. The test focuses on knowing both the individual's air capacity and its expulsion speed, among other parameters..
Biomechanical evaluation: Starting from the laws of physics, this test is used to determine the mobility of the individual. This helps to check the degree of execution of certain movements, their natural sports behavior and gestures.
Reaction times: also known as “response time”, it is a physical test that is responsible for analyzing the relationship between the stimulus and the athlete's response.
Mobility: It is responsible for measuring the ability of the muscles to extend themselves and regain their original state of rest. The flexibility of the individual plays a fundamental role and is also a parameter to take into account.
Once the results of the battery of studies have been obtained, the health professional will be in charge of preparing what is known as a “comprehensive diagnosis”. This will be used to create a correct exercise, training or rehabilitation routine as necessary.
Comprehensive diagnoses are of vital importance for the creation of any training plan, as they help prevent future injuries, correct sports gestures and contribute to the general improvement of the patient's physical conditions..
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