The beneficial effects of exercise may have been recognised for many years but little has been achieved to ensure that individuals and society at large include exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. As a result there is a "fitness gap" which needs to be addressed.

There is a considerable debate whether the beneficial health effects of exercise extend to include sport. Sport equates with competition, competition means risk, risk inevitable[sic] results in injuries and illness - but "Risk sharpens things Up".

The medical profession in the UK has taken a very ambivalent view of sports and exericse medicine, but this attitude is changing and there is now a general acceptance that sport and exercise medicine is a legitimate professional field of interest with a solid foundation in basic science as well as an appropriate range of clinical practice.