DEFINITION OF COURSE
This course is concerned with the specific areas of sports and athletics and the relationship of lower extremity mechanics and function on those activities. It also concerns itself with injury in sports - mechanisms, types of injuries, treatment, and prevention.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

• To explore the scope of sports practice, the ethics of the doctor - athlete relationship, and the legal liabilities of the sports physician.
• To identify, diagnose and treat common injuries of the foot, ankle and leg encountered in everyday practice.
• To understand the biomechanics of sports injuries and the use of treadmill and video analysis to examine and interpret the cause of injury in gait.
• To gain insight into athletic footwear and footwear prescription, and the use of foot orthoses in the treatment and prevention of sports injury.
• To understand the impact of nutrition and health lifestyles on the adolescent, adult, and geriatric athlete and to identify and screen physiopsychological aberrations such as eating disorders, substance abuse, " little league syndrome", and obsessive behaviors.

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE IN THE CURRICULUM
To provide the student with the basic understanding of sports injury and prepare the student for the care and treatment of sports injuries. By combining knowledge of biomechanics, orthotics, primary podiatric care, physical therapy, and traumatology with knowledge of sports, the student will be able to treat the total athlete.