Sports and exercise medicine can mean different things to different people. We think of sports medicine as evidence based care to improve human performance and health. Whilst the name might suggest sports medicine only caters for athletes, the reality is we can all benefit from support designed to enhance the way we think, move and recover. In some circles, sports medicine is referred to as performance medicine, perhaps making its broader application a little clearer.
The primary goal of sports medicine is to support you in reaching your performance and health goals while minimising the risk of injury. Whether you are a seasoned athlete or someone simply wanting to live well, sports medicine can help you maximise your potential, stay injury-free and recover faster when injuries do occur.
There are 2 key pathways in sports medicine
1.Performance optimisation – the use of strategies, tools and protocols designed to improve performance. These can be geared towards improving a very specific capability for a particular sport (eg improving jump height in basketball), or they can be more generic aiming to improve general health and wellbeing (eg reducing stress or improving sleep). The foundation for performance optimisation is injury prevention. We must reduce our risk of injury if we are going to get the most out of our mind and body over the long term. Injury prevention is therefore the foundation on which all other optimisation is built. This is our focus at Optimi – we want to help you stay injury free so you can move better, perform better and simply get the most out of life.
2. Injury treatment – this includes the treatment of both acute (recent) and chronic (longstanding) injuries and pain. The goal here is to return you to your sport or lifestyle of choice as quickly and safely as possible. Additionally, there should be a strong focus on building resilience to future injury to prevent acute injuries becoming recurring or chronic. Obviously we all want to spend as little time as possible in this pathway, which is why prevention is so important.
We offer both pathways inside the Optimi app and recommend that you prioritise your prehab (injury prevention) year round to reduce your injury risk so you can enjoy life to the fullest. If and when you do get injured, our treatment pathway is designed to get you in and out as quickly and safely as possible so you can get back to doing the things you love.
Sports medicine is multidisciplinary
Sports medicine expertise is drawn from a range of specialities to provide holistic care to an individual. A sports medicine team will typically include the following experts:
- Sports Medicine Doctor
- Physiotherapist
- Dietitian
- Performance psychologist
- Strength and Conditioning Coach
This team brings together a range of skills and experiences far greater than any one expert can possess. Combined, their advice can help optimise both mental and physical performance and treat a range of injuries and conditions which may be blocking peak performance and health (eg a muscle/joint injury or negative and limiting self beliefs). The sports medicine model has been developed in professional sport where significant funding and resources are available to create cutting edge, science based strategies to meaningfully improve performance and health. This knowledge and care is just as helpful for us as it is for professional athletes.
Optimi’s goal is to make this combined expertise available to everyone. We’re building a multidisciplinary sports medicine platform to help you optimise performance, prevent and recover from injury, regardless of your athletic ability. If you’re a fitness enthusiast or simply an individual trying to improve your performance and health, then sports medicine is for you and we’ll help you access the most advanced and informed care possible.
