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This was a study that surveyed state medical licensing boards in the USA, to see if they have laws or exemptions for travelling team physicians to practice medicine on their own team, while travelling to that state. Surveys were sent to 58 medical boards, with legislative data being obtained for 54. Eighteen states (33%) allow team physicians travelling with their team to practice medicine with their home-state license. Thirty-six states (67%) do not have a legal pathway to allow the practice of medicine without a license: 27 (50%) do not allow the practice of medicine without a license from their state, 6 (11%) have an exemption for a 'consultant' to act in concert with a home-state physician (though this is not applicable to the team physician) and 3 (6%) do not have an exemption, but recognise that it happens without their involvement. A second survey was sent to 20 malpractice carriers, identified by an internet search to represent a diverse sample, to see if these companies offered policies that would cover the team physician, and if they also had licensure requirements. Of the 11 that responded, only 2 companies would provide coverage regardless of individual state licensing requirements, 5 companies would provide coverage to a provider who travels, but would require the provider to be licensed in any state they travel to and 4 companies would not provide coverage out of the home state, regardless of licensure. The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine is working on a Federal patch for this problem.

Numerous surveys of athletes reveal high rates of exertional abdominal pain and gastrointestinal dysfunction. These complaints often are thought to be self-limiting and benign, and they may be mediated by physiological changes that take place in the gastrointestinal tract. However, when these complaints interfere with an athlete's training or competition, it is important to evaluate for underlying pathology. The goal of this article will be to briefly describe the relevant exercise-associated changes of the gastrointestinal tract and provide a differential diagnosis and a proposed mechanism of evaluation of exertional abdominal pain. The etiologies most frequently written about include exercise-associated transient abdominal pain (ETAP or stitch), reflux, diarrhea, ischemia, and musculoskeletal pain. Less common etiologies include cardiorespiratory disease, and rare occurrences of hypoferritinemia, congenital supernumerary ligaments of the gallbladder, cholangitis, and pancreatitis have been published as case reports.

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