Sports medicine and rehabilitation medicine are two different things.

Sports medicine is a comprehensive applied science which combines medicine and sports. Study the medical problems related to sports, and use medical knowledge and technology to provide medical supervision and guidance to sports participants, so as to achieve the purpose of preventing injuries, ensuring athletes' health, enhancing physical fitness and improving sports performance. The contents mainly include: ① Sports medical supervision. To study athletes' health status, sports ability and its influencing factors, and to study and solve problems such as prevention and treatment of sports diseases, elimination of fatigue, sports and environment, selection of athletes, self-monitoring of athletes and doping in sports competitions. ② Sports injury. To study the occurrence law, mechanism, preventive measures and rehabilitation training of sports injuries. ③ Sports nutrition. Study the rational use of food to meet human needs and improve sports ability. ④ Medical sports. To study the use of various exercise methods to prevent and treat injuries, especially exercise therapy for common diseases.

Rehabilitation medicine is a medical discipline that promotes the rehabilitation of disabled people and patients. More specifically, rehabilitation medicine is a medical discipline that applies prevention, diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, training and treatment of dysfunction for the purpose of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation medicine is called the third medicine (clinical medicine is the first medicine and preventive medicine is the second medicine). In the modern medical system, prevention, medical treatment and rehabilitation have been interrelated and formed a unity. Rehabilitation medicine began after the Second World War, initially serving the disabled.

There are master's degree authorization points in both majors of Southern Medical University. In fact, the rehabilitation major is famous all over the country.