The Sports Medicane Profession has responded to the rise in over use injuries by placing greater emphasis on injury prevention, developing new diagnostic and treatment techniques, and promoting rehabilitation as an aid to full recovery. This is what Dr. Lyle J. Micheli, one of the nations foremost sports medicane authorities, calls the "new sports medicane."Below is an example of what a typical sports doctor will do before getting their degree:It has become increasingly evident over the past 25 years that there is a need for data on injury rates for the variety of sports and physical activities in which people of all ages are becoming involved. The research literature on the epidemiology of sports-related injuries has been growing slowly as various individuals and groups have attempted to gather data on the risks of participating in various sports. Almost all of these attempts have focused on sports in an organized setting, for younger age groups, and have involved relatively short-term observations. With the recent increase in participation in general fitness activities, and with such participation being encouraged by the medical community as a public health intervention to promote healthy lifestyles, it often is not realized there is little or no dependable data available to assess the risks involved in participation in physical activities. Much effort is being expended in defining the benefits of exercise, but little is being done to define risk levels. Such information is needed in order to make informed decisions as to the value of participating in a particular activity, and to provide clues as to how injury rates can be reduced.This paper presents some of the preliminary results on exercise patterns and injury rates for a six month study of a small sample of regularly exercising subjects. This pilot study was undertaken to test data collection forms and procedures for a planned longitudinal, prospective study of exercise and i...
