Sports Medicine connects sports with health. In terms of medical science, it aims to objectively evaluate and study both physiology and psychology in relation to sports. This is done by scientific and technological means, and is to exercise medical supervision, guidance, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation for athletes. With regards to the actual practice of sports, it facilitates the development of relevant medical disciplines such as orthopedics and physical therapy. Medical science and sports practice complement each other constituting the essence of sports medicines.
The studies in Sports Medicine can be classified into different areas including: prevention and treatment of sports injuries, sports-health relations, sports pharmacology, exercise-related nutrition, and sports psychology. The practitioners of sports medicine include front-line medical staff, sports medicine specialists, physiotherapists, psychotherapists, nutritionists, team doctors, athletes, and basic researchers, etc. These roles may overlap and therefore the coverage of Sports Medicine is not narrow at all.
Sports Medicine is a science backed up by complete theoretical foundation. The Sports Medicine in China has been developing since it resumed its participation in the Olympic Games. In 1928 the International Federation of Sports Medicine was established, and the sports academies and medical academies have been establishing Sports Medicines research labs consecutively since 1955. In 1978, the Chinese Sports Medicine Association was founded and joined the International Federation of Sports Medicine in 1980. The disciplines of the sports medicine in China are backed up by the excellence, the tradition, and the combination of traditional Chinese medicine "Die Da" and acupuncture, and as a result, are developed to be sports medicine with Chinese characteristics. So far, the sports medicine in China has played an important role in helping the country gain outstanding results in different sports competitions, developing medical services in the neighborhood, and strengthening the physique of the entire Chinese people.
