Integrating athlete care – ‘one stop shop’ to optimize athlete care - sports medicine with a focus on PERFORMANCE.

Dr Paul Dijkstra has vast experience in elite track and field athlete care. He shares his experience from UK Athletics – the team won 4 gold medals at the London Olympic Games. What’s new in this approach? This model of athlete care emphasises the partnership among not only the health professionals, but also with the strength and conditioning team and the coach(es). Also emphasised is performance – too often clinicians tend to focus exclusively on health whereas the athlete’s focus is performance.

Dr Dijkstra provides case scenarios -- how the management model works in real life. He shares the public domain case of UK heptathlete Jessica Ennis who forewent the Beijing Olympic Games (2008) because of a navicular stress fracture, but chose full healing and a longer future over ‘patch up’ to get to the 2008 Olympic Games.

The paper outlining this approach was featured in the April issue of BJSM supported by the IOC (Injury Prevention, Health Protection). You can read the Open Access paper here: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/7/523.full

See also:

Seeing you through London 2012: eye care at the Olympics: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/7/463.full

The role of sports physiotherapy at the London 2012 Olympic Games: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/1/63.full

The London 2012 Summer Olympic Games: an analysis of usage of the Olympic Village ‘Polyclinic’ by competing athletes: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/7/415.full

Fit and healthy Paralympians—medical care guidelines for disabled athletes: a study of the injuries and illnesses incurred by the Polish Paralympic team in Beijing 2008 and London 2012: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/47/13/844.full

Massage provision by physiotherapists at major athletics events between 1987 and 1998: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/38/2/235.full

Care of the multisport athlete: lessons from Goldilocks: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/45/14/1086.full

Public health implications of establishing a national programme to screen young athletes in the UK: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/45/7/576.full

Suicide, sport and medicine: more education and awareness needed for athletes’ mental health: http://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2012/12/10/suicide-sport-and-medicine-more-education-and-awareness-needed-for-athletes-mental-health/

“How does a clinician know what’s in the athlete’s best interest?” An Olympic experience: http://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2012/08/24/what-defines-an-athletes-best-interest-an-olympic-experience/