Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise. Although Most sports teams have employed Team physicians for many years, it is only since the late 20th century that Sport and Exercise Medicine has emerged as a distinct entity in health care.

In recent years Western society has increasingly recognized the dangers of Physical inactivity, and significant efforts have been made within the Public Health community to encourage the nation to become more physically active. To reflect this paradigm shift BASM has renamed itself BASEM (British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine) and the speciality itself has rebranded from Sports Medicine to Sport & Exercise Medicine. Since 2007 several deaneries across the UK have established training programmes in SEM, and recurrent funding for 50 National Training Numbers (NTN’s) is available.

In the past SEM has largely been a special interest among General Practitioners. The minimal level of qualification is a Diploma available from FSEM (Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine), or MSc (with submission of research project) from, and Provided a physician (DO or MD (usually a General Practitioner, or specialist in A&E, Orthopaedic, Rheumatology or Musculoskeletal Radiology) can provide evidence of active involvement in SEM, they will be granted Membership of FSEM