Dubai: Experts in sports medicine have urged their community to move along with changing times and ensure sport engages and involves the latest scientific trends.
More than 300 delegates have landed in Dubai for the Fifth Congress of the European College of Sports and Exercise Physicians (Ecosep) and Fifa Football Medicine Update, being held at the Mohammad Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU).
The two-day event has brought together some of the top sports healthcare professionals from across the world with Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman, Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) joined at the opening ceremony on Saturday by Sami Al Qamzi, Director General, Dubai Economy, Prof. John King, Ecosep President and Dr. Michel D’Hooghe, Chairman, Fifa Medical Committee.
“We are moving fast with new things creeping in every aspect of our lives starting from technology and sciences. In particular, we ought to pay attention to my concept of BINS, that’s short for Bio-Technology, Informatics, Nano-Technology and Congnitive Sciences. These are four chapters for the next generation who have modern technological knowledge before them,” Dr. D’Hooghe told Gulf News.
“Scientists at FC Barcelona, for instance, have already created a group of doctors, engineers and technicians to study all these topics, and this can only help generations to follow,” he added.
Dr Xavier Valle from the Fifa Medical Centre of Excellence at FC Barcelona, was of a similar opinion. “Much of the modern-day challenge lies in staying updated on a daily basis irrelevant of the sport. The ultimate beneficiary has to be the athletes, be they professional or amateur,” Dr. Valle remarked.
Dr Nikos Malliaropoulos from the Queen Mary University London offered that patients have the right to have more options and better opportunities when it comes to treatment of sports injuries. “Inactivity is the fourth cause of death after obesity, cardio-vascular problems and diabetes. We have been working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and all other relevant bodies so that we can reach out to a maximum number of people,” he observed.
Speaking on the evolution of sports and physical exercise medicine, Dr. Amir Pakravan, Chairman of the London-based Ecosep Fighting Inactivity Committee compared the gladiators from the Roman Empire to modern-day sportspersons. “The gladiators had a specialised surgeon to care for them so that they could be on the field again. It is no different in modern-day sport,” Dr. Pakravan noted.
