Final answer:
Sports medicine includes a variety of professionals such as athletic trainers, who are allied health-care professionals involved in preventing, evaluating, and treating athletic injuries. They have extensive education in science-related subjects and work closely with other medical professionals.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that sports medicine is restricted only to the medical community is not entirely accurate. Sports medicine encompasses a wide range of disciplines and professionals, including but not limited to athletic trainers, physical therapists, physicians, and surgeons. Athletic trainers, in particular, are allied health-care professionals who play a critical role in the wellbeing of athletes. They do more than managing acute injuries; they work on injury prevention, rehabilitation, and coordinate care with medical professionals when necessary.
Athletic trainers often have a degree in athletic training, which includes foundational courses in sciences such as biology, chemistry, and physics, along with more specialized courses like anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology, kinesiology, and nutrition. Their understanding of pharmacological terms and actions of drugs, which can include esters, amines, or amides, is crucial for their role in sports medicine. Thus, athletic trainers contribute significantly to the sports medicine field, working in diverse settings from high schools to colleges and sports organizations.