Sports Medicine
Widely used in the military and in elite sports, Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) doctors are specialist physicians who have completed core medical training, residency training in a specialty, and then gone on to complete additional fellowship training in SEM. Specialising in the treatment of athletes and other physically active individuals, they have extensive education in musculoskeletal medicine. SEM doctors treat injuries such as muscle, ligament, tendon and bone problems, but may also treat chronic illnesses that can affect physical performance, such as asthma and diabetes. SEM doctors also advise on managing and preventing injuries.
SEM doctors are not orthopaedic surgeons, who specialise in the operative treatment of structural injuries. A SEM doctor will look more holistically at an injury or problem, to see whether there are underlying issues that may be causing or exacerbating your issue, such as a virus (such as glandular fever), or physiological changes within your blood or organs (such as diabetes). They also arrange investigations when needed, such as MRI scans and X-rays, and carry out blood tests and ultrasound scans,as well as diagnostic and therapeutic injections when appropriate.
SEM doctors do work closely with surgeons when necessary, and with physiotherapists and sports rehabilitation therapists, to get the best long term results for their patients. And while we don't have in-house sports physicians at Victory, Clinical Director Nell Mead has a postgraduate diploma in Sports & Exercise Medicine and we do work closely with some of London's leading sports physicians; in particular Dr Jon Houghton and Dr Cath Spencer-Smith.
