TY - JOUR T1 - The end of the beginning JF - British Journal of Sports Medicine JO - Br J Sports Med SP - 1 LP - 1 VL - 40 IS - 1 AU - P McCrory Y1 - 2006/01/01 UR - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/40/1/1.abstract N2 - The recent BASEM meeting in Edinburgh highlighted the growing gulf in the future direction of sports medicine that exists in the UK. Whilst the orthopaedic and musculoskeletal aspects of sports injuries have been the traditional focus of sports medicine, there arises the key question as to whether this will be appropriate into the future. Having received the governmental seal of approval that SEM will be a stand alone specialty, the view of most sports physicians at the meeting was that they could see themselves seeing sports injuries either in a referral based consultant practice or a NHS funded outpatient clinic. The aim therefore is to get as many training positions as possible within the NHS. Is this medical view of SEM as sports traumatologists likely to be the final product of what an SEM physician will be? I doubt it. I suspect that the SEM physician five or ten years from now will be a radically different beast from what exists now. What will drive this change? The UK government through its various agencies has clearly been looking at the role of increasing exercise and physical activity as a … ER -