Sport and Exercise Medicine: The UK trainee perspective –A BJSM blog series
By Dr. Robin Chatterjee
Last month, the 7th Annual London Sports & Exercise Medicine Conference took place at the KIA Oval. This yearly event is organised by the Sport and Exercise Medicine registrars who are based in the London area. The event doubles as one of the four National Training Days for Sport and Exercise Medicine trainees. The aim is to showcase a wide variety of topics via experts working throughout the field. This year’s conference, entitled ‘ Stand Tall, Talk Small, Play Ball’, examined the key issues in Sport and Exercise Medicine for all ages and at all levels.
Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is a holistic specialty with various facets that are all equally important in the overall management of a patient, including but not limited to: musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine, exercise medicine, public health and population medicine. The conference reflected this by having lectures in some of the different fields that make up SEM.
The speakers were comprised of internationally renowned medical, surgical and public health consultants, sports scientists and professors in sports medicine. Their work has ranged from preparing elite athletes for the pinnacle of their sport to strategies to increase activity amongst the general population in order to combat an array of chronic diseases.
The keynote speaker was Dr Ese Stacey who talked about gut dysbiosis causing MSK pain. She spoke about how diet and nutrition were important factors to include in the management of MSK pain as the balance of good and bad gut microorganisms had an impact on joints and tendons and in turn general well being and performance. Other speakers included Dr Justin Varney who discussed the peer-to-peer physical activity ‘Clinical Champions programme’. This is a service created by Public Health England, which provides free structured training, to health professionals by health professionals, to improve the understanding of PA in clinical practice so they can integrate very brief advice into their day-to-day clinical practice. Other highlights included: Dr Roger Wolman who described how short term bisphosphonate treatment may improve healing in selected athletes with stress fractures or bone marrow lesions; Dr. Richard Sylvester who shared his insights into complicated and unusual cases of concussion and Professor John King who spoke about past, present and future management of exercise-induced limb pain. All in all, there was something for everyone in the 170-strong audience, which comprised medical students, doctors, physiotherapists and scientists.
The event allowed networking opportunities for the delegates as well as a chance to learn new information and challenge old beliefs. We are very thankful to the speakers for taking time out of their busy schedules to talk and make the conference a success.
Programme: 7th Annual London Sports & Exercise Medicine (SEM) Conference:
Stand Tall, Talk Small, Play Ball
Sports injuries in the paediatric patient. Dr Matthew Barry (Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Royal London Hospital)
Bisphosphonates in the athlete. Dr Roger Wolman (Consultant Rheumatologist, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital)
Complicated cases of concussion. Dr Richard Sylvester (Consultant Neurologist, National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery)
Asthma in the athlete. Dr John Dickinson (Head of Exercise Respiratory Clinic and Senior Lecturer, University of Kent)
Exercise induced limb pain. Prof John King (Honorary Chair at the Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary University of London)
Gut dysbiosis and MSK problems. Dr Ese Stacey (Consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine, London West End Bupa Health and Dental centre)
Collapse during endurance training. Dr Courtney Kipps (Consultant in Sports & Exercise Medicine, Consultant to Institute of Sport, medical director of London and Blenheim Triathlons)
Physical activity promotion and the Clinical Champions service. Dr Justin Varney (National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing, Public Health England)
Getting people active through sport: overcoming inactivity. Prof Tess Kay (lead for sport, health and well-being research group, Brunel University) & Dr Laura Hills (Lead for Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Brunel University)
Safeguarding in sport issues and initiatives. Dr Daniel Rhind (Senior lecturer in social psychology, Brunel University)
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Dr Chatterjee is a Specialist Registrar (ST4) in Sports & Exercise Medicine (SEM), a GP with a Special Interest in SEM and chairperson for the 7th annual London SEM conference . He currently works as a medical officer at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, London Broncos Rugby League club and Musculoskeletal Interface Clinical Assessment Service (MICAS) at Battersea Health Centre and is a regular contributor for Co-Kinetic Journal.
Twitter: @sportsdocrob
Email: r.chatterjee1@nhs.net
Farrah Jawad is a registrar in Sport and Exercise Medicine and co-ordinates the BJSM Trainee Perspective blog.