Sports and exercise medicine – new specialists or snake oil salesmen?
- Correspondence to: Paul McCrory, Centre for Health, Exercise & Sports Medicine, University of Melbourne, P O Box 93, SHOREHAM, Melbourne, 3916, Australia; p.mccrory{at}unimelb.edu.au
- Received 21 October 2009
- Accepted 23 October 2009
- Published Online First 29 November 2009
Abstract
There is a belief that Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is a unique aspect of medical practice because sports physicians care for elite athletes and athletes are different. This situation can result in the use of use unproven therapies which are then justified on the basis that elite athletes need to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of medical treatment in order to return to play as rapidly as possible. In more established fields of medicine, the use of such unproven therapy would lead to considerable professional criticism. (1)
