Performance Medicine is a sub-speciality of clinical

Clinical Medicine

Clinical Medicine is a peer-reviewed medical journal published bimonthly by the Royal College of Physicians. It was established in 1966 as the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was doubly named between 1998 and 2000, and since 2001 it has appeared as Clinical Medicine. Its...

 and diagnostic medicine that aims to maximise human performance in terms of endurance, physical fitness, metabolic efficiency and the ability to resist, postpone or prevent disease. It is a new and innovative medical speciality that merges the goals of internal medicine, anti-ageing medicine, sports medicine and preventative health care.The goals of performance medicine have been summarised and include the following:

1. a focus on maintaining an individuals endurance
   Endurance
   Endurance is the ability for a human or animal to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. In humans, it is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise...
   
    capacity, strength
   Strength
   - Physical ability :*Physical strength, as in people or animals*Superhuman strength, as in fictional characters*A common character attribute in role-playing gamesConflict between persons or groups:*Virtue and moral uprightness...
   
    and speed throughout adult life
2. the maximisation of an individuals metabolic efficiency
   Metabolic pathway
   In biochemistry, metabolic pathways are series of chemical reactions occurring within a cell. In each pathway, a principal chemical is modified by a series of chemical reactions. Enzymes catalyze these reactions, and often require dietary minerals, vitamins, and other cofactors in order to function...
   
   
3. the adoption of strategies that increase an individuals resistance to disease and postpone or prevent disease
   Preventive medicine
   Preventive medicine or preventive care refers to measures taken to prevent diseases, rather than curing them or treating their symptoms...
   
    where possible

Performance medicine differs fundamentally from other areas of medicine by focusing on the healthy non-injured individual that is at low risk of sub-clinical or clinical disease. This population of individuals respond poorly to the current medical paradigm.

Performance medicine physicians aim to measure physiological and biochemical performance over time and to modify exposure to environmental factors in such a way that an individuals health is optimised by operating at the "sweet spot" on their J- curve where both performance and longevity are maximimised. (see J-curve illustration for further explanation).

Domains

1. Specialty: Performance Medicine
2. Diagnostic clinic: Performance Medicine Lab
3. Promotion and Education
4. Clinical Research

Organisations

• Royal Australasian College of Physicians
  Royal Australasian College of Physicians
  The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, or RACP, is the organisation responsible for training, educating, and representing over 9,000 physicians and paediatricians in Australia and New Zealand. It was founded in 1938....
  
  
• American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
  American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
  The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine is a United States registered 501 nonprofit organization that promotes the field of anti-aging medicine and trains and certifies physicians in this specialty. As of 2011, approximately 26,000 practitioners had been given certificates...
  
  
• International Federation of Sports Medicine

See also

• Performance Medicine/facebook
• Seattle Performance Medicine