Written for coaches, this textbook explains what you need to know about sports medicine in order to integrate optimal performance training with an injury prevention program. Moreover, it helps you communicate effectively with health professionals and better understand the nature of an injury, its treatment, the injured athlete's limits, and his or her rehabilitation needs.

Following the authors' careful guidelines, you learn how to...

• Recognize the causes and symptoms of overtraining and institute measures to prevent its occurrence
• Understand and help athletes deal with the psychological effects of injury
• Encourage a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition, fluid intake, and weight control guidelines and suggestions

Special features help you apply sports medicine concepts—:

• Case studies help you understand how the knowledge you gain from the chapter makes you a more effective coach.
• From the Athletic Training Room boxes offer additional scientific background to strengthen your understanding of key topics.
• Focus Point boxes set forth anecdotes, brief cases, hot topics, and current debates that extend and build upon the text.

A searchable online version of the text enables you to quickly locate specific topics.

While there are many books on sports medicine, this is the first one written specifically for coaches. Armed with your knowledge of sports medicine, you can minimize athletic injury and help athletes recover from injuries that do occur.