MINERVA MEDICA COPYRIGHT ® Sports medicine: a European perspective. Historical roots, definitions and scope S ports medicine has always been difficult to define because it does not involve just one area but a wide scope of health care of professionals and recreationally active individuals with the functions of curative, reha- bilitative and preventive aspects. Athletes and active individuals demand expertise and sport-specific knowl- edge varying from musculoskeletal problems to envi- ronmental stresses, from cardiological to dermato- logical, from endocrinological to psychological ques- tions. Moral, legal and health related difficulties (such as doping) of the professional athlete pose a unique and complex picture to medical doctors. Finally, prevention is an area of increasing specialized interest, knowl- edge and expertise. Many believe that sports medi- cine will make its most significant contributions in the area of prevention. Participation in all forms of physical activity at all levels is a huge part of everyday modern life and its benefit to health and quality of life is very clear. 1-18 There has been a growing need and therefore an interest in sports medicine among European countries over the last century due to increased participation in physical activities following many national projects promoting these programs. The aim of this article is to give an historical background of both medicine and science articulating them into sports medicine and sport sciences, the definitions, scopes and education- al perspectives of sports medicine in several countries. Attempting to handle the roots of sports medicine requires to firstly identify the main stream of medicine. Furthermore, medicine is also a scientific discipline and needs to justify the relations with other areas, especially with sport sciences. Medicine Healing a disease or treating an injury has always been crucial to human race and many ways have been found to apply treatment techniques and methods. These practices are fundamental for the continuation of life. Self-preservation and reproduction are con- cerned as basic instinctive actions of human being. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, 1 Physical Education and Sport School Department of Sports Medicine School of Medicine, University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey 2 Sports Medicine Unit, University Institute of Movement Sciences (IUSM) Health Science Department, University of Rome, Rome, Italy 3 Institute of Sport Sciences Department of Sports and Exercise Physiology University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria 4 Department of Sports Medicine, Medical Hospital University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany Address reprint requests to: Dr. E. Ergen, Physical Education and Sport School, Department of Sports Medicine School of Medicine, University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey. E. ERGEN 1 , F. PIGOZZI 2 , N. BACHL 3 , H. H. DICKHUTH 4 Vol. 46 - No. 2 THE JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS 167 EDITORIAL J SPORTS MED PHYS FITNESS 2006;46:167-75