“The mountains we climb, are not made only of rock and ice, but also of dreams, and desire.  The mountains we climb, are mountains of the mind.”
Robert Macfarlane

Many people have trekking on their bucket list and invest significant time and financial resources to travel to remote areas such as the Himalayas, South America, Africa and other mountainous or extreme environments.  Others will aim to compete in an endurance event in a distant country to combine a love of travel with their sporting endeavours.

Such a significant investment can be derailed by an injury in training or from the exacerbation of a medical condition.  Injury or illness recovery can also be complicated by the need for medical assessment or care in remote places.

Olympic athletes undergo a medical screening process prior to their competition to identify medical conditions or injuries that may pose a performance risk, especially those that may be exacerbated by travel or the competition environment.  The aim of such a screening process is to optimise management, prevent issues from occurring and to formulate a management plan for early intervention should problems occur; facilitating an undisrupted preparation and successful competition.

Trekkers, mountaineers and other adventurers can now choose to review their current health, physical preparation and destination specific performance considerations in the same way as an Olympic athlete would.

Dr Lari will be offering mountain, expedition and pre-event medical & performance screenings in Canberra from August 2018.

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WILDERNESS & ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE, 26, S92–S97 (2015) CARE OF THE WILDERNESS ATHLETE Counseling for the Wilderness Athlete and Adventurer During a Preparticipation Evaluation for Preparation, Safety, and Injury Prevention; Justin Mark Young, MD; Aaron Campbell ,MD ,MHS; Kate Raastad, BS 

WILDERNESS & ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE, 26, S20–S29 (2015) CARE OF THE WILDERNESS ATHLETE; General Medical Considerations for theWilderness Adventurer: Medical Conditions That May Worsen With or Present Challenges to Coping With Wilderness Exposure Tracy A.Cushing,MD,MPH; WilliamO.Roberts,MD et.al.

Special Considerations in Medical Screening for Participants in Remote Endurance Events;  Jeremy Joslin, Martin D. Hoffman, Ian Rogers et.al; Sports Med (2015) 45:1121–1131