Sports Medicine: When Is Hurt An Injury?

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Sport Medicine: When is Hurt an Injury?
Coaches want their players on the field. The players want to be on the field. With these two major parties lobbying to get back on the field after an injury, what is a doctor supposed to do? Athletes are patients just as a person who breaks their leg falling down stairs at his house is. But why is there such an added pressure on getting athletes back on the playing field? It is because of the public’s view of sport as entertainment, especially at the professional level. When people go to a sporting event they expect to see their favorite player playing, regardless of injury. This, along with pressure from the athletes and coaches, puts the doctors in a difficult situation.
Ethics in sport medicine could be defined as getting the athlete in good enough condition that he is able to play in the contest or just to be able to practice. Sports medicine ethics could also be getting the athlete back to the physical condition that he was at before the injury occurred. Each individual doctor has his own set of ethics and morals. According to the World Medical Association’s Geneva Declaration a doctor is supposed to pledge “the health of my patient will be my first consideration.” By that statement, however, it naturally would condemn the procedures used to “mask pain”. It is ultimately the doctor’s opinion on the health of the patient, and whether he can compete or not.
Coaches are going to want their players out on the field everyday. The more time that an athlete spends in a training room is less time he spends on the practice field, which will in turn take away from his production during the game. Coaches will talk with the medical staff to see how bad an injury is to a player, and to see how much time, if any, he will miss. The coach will then in turn try to get the doctors to get that athlete back on the field as soon as possible. That is when the doctor should tak...