Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness and the treatment and prevention of injuries related 💴 to sports and exercise.

Although most sports teams have employed team physicians for many years, it is only since the late 💴 20th century that sports medicine emerged as a distinct field of health care.

In some countries, sports medicine (or sport and 💴 exercise medicine) is a recognized medical specialty (with similar training and standards to other medical specialties).

In the majority of countries 💴 where sports medicine is recognized and practiced, it is a physician (non-surgical) specialty, but in some (such as the USA), 💴 it can equally be a surgical or non-surgical medical specialty, and also a specialty field within primary care.

In other contexts, 💴 the field of sports medicine encompasses the scope of both medical specialists and also allied health practitioners who work in 💴 the field of sport, such as physiotherapists, athletic trainers, podiatrists and exercise physiologists.[1]Scope [ edit ]