Preliminary report--sports injury clinic.

IN the past 30 years there has been an increasingly scientific approach to sporting activities of all types, and athletes and their advisers have begun to ask for a number of specialist services. With this in mind it was decided to open a sports injury clinic, initially as a pilot scheme, in the accident and emergency department of the Belfast City Hospital. All acute or serious sporting injuries referred to this hospital are treated in the accident and emergency department in the first instance, but this clinic was started with the main objective of following up these acute injuries more closely and treating the more chronic injuries. Through the goodwill of other departments particularly physiotherapy, the clinic provides the facilities and expertise to deal with these problems. This paper reviews the work carried out by the clinic during its first 21⁄2V2 years. PATIENTS AND METHODS