This book explores the complex and contradictory relationships between sport, medicine and health through a historically grounded analysis, informed by macro-social trends such as changing political economies and altered perceptions of the body.
Drawing upon literature in the sociology of sport, medicine and health, the book explores the underlying scientific discourse of physical activity health promotion to expose the broader political context in which medical knowledge and public policies emerge, and the incongruities between these policies and the supply of and demand for (sports) medicine. It examines the function medicine performs in the world of sport and the working practice of sports medicine personnel. At the local level, practitioners experience various context-specific barriers and forms of resistance which restrict the degree to which the profession is able to exert influence over sport. Through a series of case studies, the book explores the social construction of sports medical knowledge and the potential for medicine to create human suffering rather than well-being.
