Sport-Related Skin Conditions

This work reviews the various types of dermatological conditions that affect athletes and sports participants, and provides relevant treatment options in each of the cases. Although there are many articles pertaining to sports medicine in relation to orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries, there is a shortage of comprehensive literature pertaining the effects of athletics on skin health. Considering the popularity of sports and athletic pursuits, it is important for clinicians to be able to provide preventative guidance and treatment recommendations related to the sports that patients participate in. Previous literature related to sports and dermatology has been confined to review articles that do not provide a thorough breakdown into the various types of sports that have unique biomechanical and environmental components that are worth describing in a book format (e.g. scuba diving and cutaneous decompression sickness).

Sport-Related Skin Conditions: A Guide for Clinicians informs dermatologists, medical students and residents, and the general sporting population about the types of dermatoses associated with various sports, methods of identifying them, preventing them and treating them. For example, providing information about the epidemiology of sun exposure in athletes in combination with sun protective guidelines tailored for those athletes (e.g. UV and waterproof sun protection for sailors) could help to improve patient care. Additionally, highlighting the current state of dermatological knowledge relevant to sports can help guide research scientists in finding areas to expand the knowledge base of dermatology. Additionally, by organizing chapters related to groups of sports, this will allow for comparison between different sports in terms of the epidemiology of skin conditions and to stimulate future research into comprehensive prevention and management guidelines for overlapping dermatological conditions in related sports.