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Sport in Australia is ingrained in the national consciousness more widely, deeply and indelibly than almost anywhere else in the world. When a prominent sportsperson sustains a sporting injury, either traumatically or from overuse, becomes excessively fatigued, or fails to live up to expectations, this assumes national importance. It is even more relevant nowadays with greater individual participation in sporting activities. The same type of problems occur for recreational athletes, middle-aged people wanting to become fit, or older people wishing to sustain a higher level of activity in their later years.
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In Clinical Sports Medicine the authors take sport and exercise medicine out of the realm of the elite athlete and place it fairly and squarely where it belongs—as a subspecialty to serve everyone in the community who wishes to be active.
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The book is organised in a manner that is sensible and usable. The chapters are arranged according to the anatomical region of the symptom rather than diagnostic categories. This results in a very usable text for the sports physician, general/family practitioner, physiotherapist, masseur, or athletic trainer whose practice contains many active individuals.
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Practical aspects of sports medicine are well covered—care of the sporting team and concerns that a clinician might have when travelling with a team. In all, this is an eminently usable text which is timely in its production and will find an important place among clinicians involved in the care of active individuals.
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Professor of Medicine, Exercise Physiology and Sports Medicine
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Faculty of Health Sciences
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Past President, American College of Sports Medicine
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This foreword was written by the late Professor John Sutton before his untimely death in 1996; we honour the memory of this champion of the integration of science, physical activity promotion and multidisciplinary patient care.