THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPORts MEDICINE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN The transcript of a Witness Seminar held by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, London, on 29 June 2007 Edited by L A Reynolds and E M Tansey Volume 36 2009 ©The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2009 First published by the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL, 2009 The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity, no. 210183. ISBN 978 085484 121 9 All volumes are freely available online following the links to Publications/Wellcome Witnesses at www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed Technology Transfer in Britain: The case of monoclonal antibodies; Self and Non-Self: A history of autoimmunity; Endogenous Opiates; The Committee on Safety of Drugs • Making the Human Body Transparent: The impact of NMR and MRI; Research in General Practice; Drugs in Psychiatric Practice; The MRC Common Cold Unit • Early Heart Transplant Surgery in the UK • Haemophilia: Recent history of clinical management • Looking at the Unborn: Historical aspects of obstetric ultrasound • Post Penicillin Antibiotics: From acceptance to resistance? • Clinical Research in Britain, 1950–1980 • Intestinal Absorption • Origins of Neonatal Intensive Care in the UK • British Contributions to Medical Research and Education in Africa after the Second World War • Childhood Asthma and Beyond • Maternal Care • Population-based Research in South Wales: The MRC Pneumoconiosis Research Unit and the MRC Epidemiology Unit • Peptic Ulcer: Rise and fall • Leukaemia • The MRC Applied Psychology Unit • Genetic Testing • Foot and Mouth Disease: The 1967 outbreak and its aftermath • Environmental Toxicology: The legacy of Silent Spring • Cystic Fibrosis • Innovation in Pain Management • The Rhesus Factor and Disease Prevention • The Recent History of Platelets in Thrombosis and Other Disorders • Short-course Chemotherapy for Tuberculosis • Prenatal Corticosteroids for Reducing Morbidity and Mortality after Preterm Birth • Public Health in the 1980s and 1990s: Decline and rise? • Cholesterol, Atherosclerosis and Coronary Disease in the UK, 1950–2000 • Development of Physics Applied to Medicine in the UK, 1945–90 • The Early Development of Total Hip Replacement • The Discovery, Use and Impact of Platinum Salts as Chemotherapy Agents for Cancer • Medical Ethics Education in Britain, 1963–1993 • Superbugs and Superdrugs: A history of MRSA • Clinical Pharmacology in the UK, c. 1950–2000: Influences and institutions • Clinical Pharmacology in the UK, c. 1950–2000: Industry and regulation• The Resurgence of Breastfeeding, 1975–2000 • The Development of Sports Medicine in Twentieth- century Britain CONTENTS Illustrations and credits v Abbreviations vii Witness Seminars: Meetings and publications; Acknowledgements E M Tansey and L A Reynolds ix Introduction John Lloyd Parry xxiii Transcript Edited by L A Reynolds and E M Tansey 1 Appendix 1 Examples of early sports medicine courses A. Society of Apothecaries’ syllabus relating to the diploma in sports medicine, 1989 83 B. Scottish Royal Colleges’ diploma in sports medicine syllabus, 1990 85 Appendix 2 Reminiscences on the history of sports medicine Dr Ian Adams 87 Mr John King 88 Dr Malcolm Read 91 Professor Craig Sharp 91 References 95 Biographical notes 113 Glossary 131 Index 139 ILLUSTRATIONS AND CREDITS Figure 1 A device to measure maximum work, 1922. Hill (1922): 22; reproduced by permission of the Physiology Society and Wiley-Blackwell. 7 Figure 2 Sir Adolphe Abrahams’ 1952 advice for the average man. Provided by Sir Roger Bannister; Christopher Johnson, publisher, has not been traced. 10 Figure 3 Four-minute bull’s-eye, devised by Harold Abrahams for the 1953 International Athletics Annual, compiled by the Association of Track and Field Statisticians ((1953): 15). Reproduced by permission of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians. 13 Figure 4 Advice on track technique from Canham’s 1953 Field Events. Drawings by Tyler Micoleau. Abraham H M. (ed.) (1953): 34, 106. Provided by Sir Roger Bannister; H Jenkins, publisher, has not been traced. 14 Figure 5 Dr Henry Robson, 1981, at the 5th Balkan Congress of Sports Medicine, Izmir, Turkey. Provided by and reproduced with permission of Ms Elizabeth Robson. 16 Figure 6 Dr John Williams, c. 1990. Provided by and reproduced with permission of Mrs Sally Williams. 21 Figure 7 Mr Peter Sebastian, c. 1990. Provided by and reproduced with permission of Mr Anthony Sebastian. 26 Figure 8 Dr Griffith Pugh,c. 1965. Provided by and reproduced with permission of Mrs Harriet Tuckey. 32 v Figure 9 Dr Griffith Pugh taking alveolar gas samples from Mr John Hunt, the leader of the expedition, base camp, Mount Everest, 1953. Reproduced by permission of the Royal Geographical Society. 33 Figure 10 Logo of the London Sports Medicine Institute, 1986–92. Provided by and reproduced with permission of Dr Dan Tunstall Pedoe. 66 Figure 11 The top table of the Duke of Edinburgh’s conference on sports medicine, c. 1970. Photo provided by Dr Ian Adams. 78 vi ABBREVIATIONS* AAA Amateur Athletic Association (1880) ACPSM Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine (1972) ACSM American College of Sports Medicine (1954) AIMS Association Internationale Medico-Sportive (1928) BAAB British Amateur Athletic Board (1932) BAMM British Association of Manipulative Medicine (1968) BASEM British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine (1999) BASES British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (1984) BASM British Association of Sport and Medicine (1953) BIMM British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine (1992) formed by a merger of the Institute of Orthopaedic Medicine and the British Association of Manipulative Medicine BJSM British Journal of Sports Medicine (1968) BOA British Olympic Association (1905) BOMC British Olympic Medical Centre (1987) BOSTA British Orthopaedics Sports Trauma Association (1993) CCPR Central Council for Physical Recreation (1935) DCMS Department for Culture, Media and Sport (1998) EIS English Institute of Sport (2002) ErgRS Ergonomics Research Society (1949) FIMS Fédération Internationale de Médecine du Sport (1934) FINA Fédération Internationale de Natation Amateur/ International Amateur Swimming Federation (1908) FIP Fédération Internationale Pharmaceutique/ International Pharmaceutical Federation (1912) * Dates in parentheses refer to the date of foundation vii FSEM Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine (2005) IABSEM Intercollegiate Academic Board of Sport and Exercise Medicine (1999) IAC International Athletes’ Club (1958) IFSM International Federation of Sports Medicine (1928) IOCMC International Olympic Committee medical commission (1967) IOM Institute of Orthopaedic Medicine (1905) ISEM Institute of Sports and Exercise Medicine (2005) ISM Institute of Sports Medicine (1965–2005, ISEM thereafter) LSMI London Sports Medicine Institute (1986–92) MAC British Olympic Association’s medical advisory committee (1959) NFC National Fitness Council (1937) NSMI National Sports Medicine Institute of the UK (1992) PEA Physical Education Association (1956) SOM Society of Orthopaedic Medicine (1979) UKADIS UK Association of Doctors in Sport (2001) viii WITNESS SEMINARS: MEETINGS AND PUBLICATIONS 1 In 1990 the Wellcome Trust created a History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group, associated with the Academic Unit of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, to bring together clinicians, scientists, historians and others interested in contemporary medical history. Among a number of other initiatives the format of Witness Seminars, used by the Institute of Contemporary British History to address issues of recent political history, was adopted, to promote interaction between these different groups, to emphasize the potential benefits of working jointly, and to encourage the creation and deposit of archival sources for present and future use. In June 1999 the Governors of the Wellcome Trust decided that it would be appropriate for the Academic Unit to enjoy a more formal academic affiliation and turned the Unit into the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL from 1 October 2000. The Wellcome Trust continues to fund the Witness Seminar programme via its support for the Centre. The Witness Seminar is a particularly specialized form of oral history, where several people associated with a particular set of circumstances or events are invited to come together to discuss, debate, and agree or disagree about their memories. To date, the History of Twentieth Century Medicine Group has held more than 50 such meetings, most of which have been published, as listed on pages xiii–xxi. Subjects are usually proposed by, or through, members of the Programme Committee of the Group, which includes professional historians of medicine, practising scientists and clinicians, and once an appropriate topic has been agreed, suitable participants are identified and invited. This inevitably leads to further contacts, and more suggestions of people to invite. As the organization of the meeting progresses, a flexible outline plan for the meeting is devised, usually with assistance from the meeting’s chairman, and some participants are invited to ‘set the ball rolling’ on particular themes, by speaking for a short period to initiate and stimulate further discussion. 1 The following is the standard introductory text to the Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine series. ix Each meeting is fully recorded, the