ECOSEP in Dubai

February 11, 2018 by

The Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in the world — among the dazzling sights in Dubai

Our intrepid Junior Associate Editor, Dawn Thompson, has been busy not only with her training but also her travels:  she recently attended the ECOSEP Congress in Dubai, where she was Tweeting her thoughts in real time.  At last having the chance to catch her breath in between the demands of the registrar’s life, she shares with us a post on the congress’ proceedings.

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If you are a follower of CJSM on twitter you may recall that back in December I attended the 5th Congress of the European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians (ECOSEP) in Association with FIFA in Dubai. Somehow it’s now a new year and January is already behind us – if only there were a magic button to stop time and give me a few extra hours in each day! Now, with a few quiet moments to myself’ I wanted to reflect on what was a great conference with plenty on offer for anyone involved in Sports and Exercise Medicine.

This was the first International Sports Medicine Conference held in Dubai, with experts from around the world meeting at this central hub.  During the congress one speaker described it as a huge step forward for the future of Sports Medicine in Dubai: a country in which sports physicians normally have to travel to other continents to get the opportunity to learn from leaders in the field. The event was held at Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and there was a real sense of pride from all the staff who had worked tirelessly to make it a success. With the FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence already based in Dubai, I really hope the success of this event will prompt more organisations to consider Dubai when looking for a central location for a worldwide conference.

Dr. Thompson at the podium, ECOSEP Dubai

It was also the first ECOSEP Congress to hold a careers talk and discussion of trainee opportunities as well as a junior doctors workshop – run by myself as part of the ECOSEP Junior Doctors Committee. This was a chance for trainees to ask questions on SEM in a low-key environment and learn more about this important specialty. Juniors are the future of the specialty, and ECOSEP prides itself on helping to nurture and develop young doctors who will carry forth the work of SEM. Read more of this post

Filed under Elite sport, Medical Conferences Tagged with ,

It takes a village: wrapping up 2017 at CJSM

December 22, 2017 by 2 Comments

2017 — it’s a ‘wrap’ Photo: Marco Verch, Wikimedia

The end of the year, with its holidays of giving (e.g. Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and more), is a special time of reflection.

As the CJSM Associate Editor responsible for our emerging media (blogs like this, our Twitter and Facebook feeds, our podcasts) I am grateful for the community that supports these endeavors.

This group of contributors is far too large for me to mention in an exhaustive list.  But a non-random, representative sample might include:

It takes a village, as they say — and in CJSM’s case, it truly is a global village.  This worldwide community creates one of the premier sports journals in existence, one that offers one of the richest platforms for the publication of new, original research.

And it’s because of this village that I can report CJSM just received an early holiday present: this blog has been named in the top 60 sports medicine blogs (#8 to be precise) of 2017.

Joy to the world!

Thanks to all the readers of the journal and this blog, the authors and reviewers, the editors and the innumerable other members of the community with which we engage on social media.

Happy Holidays, and see you in 2018 for our first edition of the New Year.

Filed under General Interest

The little differences — sports medicine training in the UK

October 15, 2017 by

Dawn Thompson, our Junior Assoc Editor from BASEM, on a UK NICU floor!!!

Our Junior Associate editor from the British Association for Sport and Exercise Medicine (BASEM)— Dawn Thompson–joins us today with her newest contribution to the CJSM blog. As many of our regular readers know, Dr. Thompson is a sport and exercise medicine (SEM) trainee in the UK and has contributed frequently to these blog pages.

Her blog post today takes up the subject of how different SEM training can be in different sites around the world.  In the USA, where I practice, one gets their primary training in a specialty such as family medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, or physical medicine & rehabilitation; only then does one pursue one to two years of further specialty training in sports medicine.  New Zealand and Australia follow a very different path, as explained by the Australasian College of Sport and Exercise Physicians (ACSEP) in their website.

The UK does it their own way, and Dr. Thompson (DT) is here to tell us what that is like as she spends time on the ‘sidelines’ of the…..neonatal intensive care unit!???

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DT: It’s been a busy year and a while since my last post. Once again it’s a crazy time of the morning (4am) and I’m in the midst of an unusually quiet 12.5 hour shift on the neonatal intensive care unit wondering how exactly this is going to make me a better sports physician! I’m not sure I have found the answer to that one yet but it has inspired me to think about the current state of SEM training.

Over the last 10-20 years sports and exercise medicine as its own specialty around the world has come on leaps and bounds. The UK Faculty for Sports and Exercise Medicine (FSEM) was set up in 2005 and is the governing body for SEM overseeing the training curriculum in the UK. The system in the UK is quite different to many other parts of Europe and the pathway seems to vary greatly between country and even between different states. Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest Tagged with , ,

The Exercise Prescription — ‘BASEM style’

November 14, 2016 by

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Author Dawn Thompson (left) with her siblings, at the end of a half marathon

Readers of this blog will be familiar with Dawn Thompson, a sports medicine physician in training and one of CJSM’s junior editors.

She is UK-based, and a member of the British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine (BASEM).  I asked her to give a run-down of the recent BASEM annual conference for the CJSM readership.

What follows is her post from the conference, with a heavy dose of a subject near and dear to our heart — the worldwide physical inactivity epidemic, and how we sports & exercise folks can address this.

From our journal articles to our blog posts, CJSM is committed to putting the ‘exercise’ into the profession of Sports & Exercise Medicine.

 

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Dawn Thompson

Last month I attended the British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine Annual Conference – ‘From Plinth to Pitch’. This was an excellently put together series of talks and lectures covering everything from Rio 2016, injury management, the female athlete to even the medical considerations in less mainstream sports of Futsal and disability shooting.

As always with Sports Medicine conferences there was a good mix of medical students, trainees, GPs and Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) consultants. The budding SEM doctor got to learn from and meet the experts they aspire to be while the more seasoned attendees got to catch up with old acquaintances and make new ones along the way. The standout session for me was the discussion on physical activity and how you actually get someone to exercise. This is an area close to my heart that made me feel invigorated and inspired enough to choose this topic as the focus of  my newest blog post. Read more of this post

Filed under General Interest

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