A branch of medicine concerned with the effects of exercise and sports on the human body, including treatment of injuries. Sports medicine can be divided into three general areas: clinical sports medicine, sports surgery, and the physiology of exercise. Clinical sports medicine includes the prevention and treatment of athletic injuries and the design of exercise and nutrition programs for maintaining peak physical performance. Sports surgery is also concerned with the treatment of injuries from contact (human or object) sports. Exercise physiology, a growing field of sports medicine, involves the study of the body's response to physical stress. It comprises the science of fitness, the preservation of fitness, and the role of fitness in the prevention and treatment of disease.