What role does sports medicine play in today's society? This book analyzes the relationship between sport, medicine and health from the mid-19th century to today. It looks at both history of medicine and the history of sport to give a balanced view of the role of medicine in sport and how this has evolved over the past two centuries.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. What role does sports medicine play in today's society? Is it solely about treating sports injuries? Should it only be concerned with elite sport? This book provides a history of the relationship between sport, medicine and health from the mid-19th century to today. It combines the sub-disciplines of the history of medicine and the history of sport to give a balanced analysis of the role of medicine in sport and how this has evolved over the past two centuries. In an age where sports medicine plays an increasingly prominent role in both elite and recreational sport, this book provides a timely and clear analysis of its rise and purpose.

"Neil Carter’s book provides an excellent broadsweep of the main subject areas, consistently based on a thorough use of primary and secondary sources, pulled together in clear thematic framework . . . thoroughly researched and written in an engaging, fluent style." - The International Journal of the History of Sport

"By focusing primarily on Britain, [Carter] has provided a detailed and well-rounded account of how sports medicine developed in the society that produced much of modern sport as we know it ... A principal strength of the book is the author’s constant embedding of sports medicine and high-performance sport within the related topics of nationalism and state policy." - Social History of Medicine

"[An] essential reference for anyone seeking to understand the contemporary dynamics of the practice of physical exercise." - Gesnerus (Bloomsbury translation)

"The history of medicine and the history of sport are elegantly combined [in this book] and Carter uses both sources and previous research to point to interesting paradoxes and complicities in the history of the body ... Suitable, and highly recommended, as teaching material for students" - Idrottsforum.org: Nordic Sport Science forum