Are pain and injury managed appropriately in the environment of commercial sport?
Is sports medicine a tool to empower or to disempower athletes?
Sport, Professionalism and Pain considers these and other pertinent concerns as it questions whether, in the world of modern sport, it is the participants themselves or the sport's administrators who exert more control over athletes' well being. It is asserted that, because of the distinctive nature of sport, the power to transform medical practice and application of sports medicine lies not with physicians but within the practices of sport itself.
Sport, Professionalism and Pain bridges a perceived space in the literature between medical anthropology, medical sociology and sport studies, examining issues such as:
- the relationship between sports medicine, the body and culture
- the power struggle between sport administrators and participants
- the historical transformation of sports medicine