Choosing a Rewarding Career in Sports Medicine

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

What sort of work is available in sports medicine?
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_medicine)

Sports medicine specialists focus on the evaluation and non-surgical care of athletes and other active people. Sports medicine specialists are concerned with all problems -- injury and illness alike - related to athletics and physical fitness. They are especially well suited to care for people with medical problems (for example, asthma, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, or obesity) who wish to begin an exercise program, improve their fitness, and reduce risks to their health.

Sports medicine has always been difficult to define because it is not a single specialty, but an area that involves health care professionals, researchers and educators from a wide variety of disciplines. Its function is not only curative and rehabilitative, but also preventative, which may actually be the most important one of all.

Education:

Few Institutes in India offer courses in Sports Medicine and most of them are for students after MBBS or graduation in Physiotherapy.

Some of the educational institutes for sports medicine are:

1. National Institute of Sports, Sports Authority of India, Affiliated to Baba Farid University of Health Sciences Faridkot and Recognized by MCI)
Two year Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Medicine

2. Sports Authority of India, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
Masters in Sports Medicine
Ph. No. +91-183-2258802-09 Extn. 3019

3. Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports - Patiala, Punjab
Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Medicine

4. Susruta Institute Of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Master of Physiotheraphy - Sports Medicine and rehabilitation

There are many sporting teams that employ a sports or athletic trainer who assists on a daily basis with basic knowledge in massage, strapping and response to acute sports injuries.

Job prospects:

The term Sports Medicine involves:

• Maintaining an athlete’s fitness and physical well being
• Assessing and treating injured athletes,
• Advising and educating on prevention strategies

Sports medicine career finds its prospects in various setups:

• Hospitals
• Sports Clubs
• Individual teams