Top sports, grassroots sports, health sports, rehabilitation sports and more: Off-the-shelf sport is out. Patients and people who do sports are as varied as the general population is – and everyone wants to get the support and help they need and require and are capable of. Individualisation is also a central concern to the medical world. Digitisation and growing amounts of information about individual people and new methods of analysis are opening up new methods of personalising sports medicine and consequently medical progress. The MEDICA MEDICINE + SPORTS CONFERENCE – which is being held in English – is going to be providing the opportunity for finding out more about the latest research findings. It will be celebrating its 5th anniversary within the scope of the MEDICA 2017, the world’s leading trade fair that will be taking place in Düsseldorf from 14 to 15 November 2017 and focusing on such future-oriented subjects as ‘Latest Innovations in Monitoring Vital Data and Sports Performance’, ‘Tailored Exercise Programs’ and ‘Digital Innovations in Grassroots and Top Sports’. The topic of individualisation in sports medicine is going to be addressed during many of the talks to be given at the event.

The founder of the ‘Sub2hrs’ marathon project, for instance, will be presenting his ‘360 Monitoring’ approach that is designed to help top runners complete marathons in less than two hours. Marko Yrjövuroi, star trainer to many of the top athletes in the USA, will also be presenting the digital tools and methods for comprehensive ‘life management’ that are already available today in top sports and that will soon also be available to grassroots activities. adidas will be premièring its All Day fitness app at Session 1 on Tuesday, 14 November. It is an app that has been designed to assist users around the clock – it does not only help them with individual exercise programmes but also with nutrition, rest periods and yoga, for example. The app thus complements popular fitness trackers and is aimed at providing individual support in a broad section of the grassroots population.
The focus generally will be on the future of sports and sports medicine – and specifically on the question: Will it be possible to run a marathon in less than two hours? “Yes!” is what Professor Yannis Pitsiladis of the University of Brighton thinks. And – as a ‘Member of the Medical and Scientific Commission’ – he should know. The official record currently lies at 2:02:57. The new world record would have to be almost three minutes faster – and that in an age in which many experts are assuming that top sports have reached the limits of what is physically possible. It is becoming increasingly difficult to set new records.