Introducing Sport and Exercise Medicine
Sport and exercise medicine, or SEM, is a specialist field of medicine.
Sport and exercise physicians, or SEPs, are medical doctors who receive training in broad medical and health science areas beyond medicine, sport and exercise, including orthopaedics, radiology and rehabilitation, as well as associated sport sciences like nutrition, biomechanics, exercise physiology and sports psychology.
SEPs and non-SEPs alike say that SEP-led care correlates with better patient outcomes, less surgical intervention, reduced recovery time, reduced reliance on medication and more comprehensive care management.
SEPs provide safe, effective and efficient evidence-based care appropriate for their patients’ needs — whether those patients are preparing for grand finals or a gold medal, recovering from their latest round of chemotherapy, living with chronic pain or managing complex mental health conditions.
Specialist versus Registrar
What is a Specialist?
A Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician is a Specialist doctor who has undertaken a minimum 4 years of post-graduate training in the field of Sport and Exercise Medicine.
After undertaking 4 years of training and completing specialist level examinations, the title of Sport and Exercise Medicine Physician is given to the doctor.
What is a Registrar?
- Accredited Registrar: An accredited registrar is a doctor who is training to become a specialist and has been accepted as a trainee within the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Medicine.
- Un-accredited Registrar: An un-accredited registrar is a trained doctor who is undertaking work in the field of Sport and Exercise Medicine and is looking to apply to become a trainee within the college of Sport and Exercise Medicine.