Sport and exercise medicine

Sport and exercise medicine is now an established specialty within the UK. As with many new ventures, advances in the classification of injury have improved the categorization of intervention and the study of its effects. Molecular understanding of injury in relation to skeletal muscle, bone and connective tissue has advanced in the past decade, allowing adaptation of the microscopic observation to direct macroscopic intervention. Conditioning of both organ systems and muscle and visceral strength is essential for health and to avoid musculoskeletal injury. Age-grouped physical activity guidelines are now available for the UK population. The use of physical activity quantified by cardiorespiratory fitness is a resource whose role is still to be defined within the NHS.