What is a “Sports Injury”

In the confluence of sports and medicine, we can anticipate that there will tend to be a disconnect between athlete and medical practitioner. Either because of a lack of understanding from both parties, or simply a lack of similar dialogue and verbiage. In a recent article “What is a Sports Injury” in Sports Medicine (Jan2014) by Timpka et al. , the authors examine a set of nomenclature that will (hopefully) bridge the gap in communication. Because, when clinicians and patients understand each other, the potential outcomes and the overall satisfaction is significantly enhanced. And, when clinicians can more effectively communicate, the efficiency of care, documentation and outcomes improves. I encourage my clinical comrades to take a quick read!

On the clinical level, the article proposes:

 

Sports injury:
Loss or abnormality of bodily structure or functioning resulting from an isolated exposure to physical energy during sports training or competition that following examination is diagnosed by a clinical professional as a medically recognized injury.

Sports disease (overuse syndrome)
Loss or abnormality of bodily structure or functioning resulting from repeated bouts of physical load without adequate recovery periods in association with sports training or competition that following examination is diagnosed by a clinical professional as a medically recognized disease or syndrome

You can find the article on the Sports Medicine journal website: SportsMed Jan2014

So the next question that begs to be answered: What is “Sports Medicine”?