Goals & Main Topics
A unity of sport and health
The Institute for Sports and Circulatory Medicine at the Innsbruck University Hospital (LKI) was founded in October 1962 following a decision by the Tyrolean provincial government as a sports medicine advisory centre for all Tyrolean athletes. The institute's task is also to coordinate and intensify sports medicine in Tyrol and to gain and disseminate scientific knowledge in the field of sports medicine. The background for the foundation of the institute was the fact that the importance of sport in the Tyrolean population was and is very high. In the future, sport will increasingly play a decisive role in the prevention and therapy of many diseases and has been proven to increase the quality of life. In this respect, sport is a positive element of the health system and as such is indispensable.
Also in October and by resolution of the Tyrolean Parliament, but 41 years later, in 2003, the Institute for Holiday, Travel and High Altitude Medicine was founded at the UMIT TIROL was founded under the direction of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schobersberger. The world's first university institution with a focus on health tourism pursues the goal of conducting medical tourism research in Tyrol and implementing the results in health tourism. This is intended to reposition holidays as a health measure. Sport and health as an inseparable unit also formed the basis for the core competences of the Institute for Sports and Circulatory Medicine with the dual mandate of dealing with mass and elite sports as well as conducting research projects.
Due to the rapid development in performance diagnostic procedures and medical standards in the field of sports and health, this duality can only be guaranteed if both areas are expanded in a contemporary manner and brought up to international standards. In order to achieve this goal in the sense of an optimal synthesis between applied sports medicine and research in sports and alpine medicine, the two units, the Institute for Holiday, Travel and High Altitude Medicine at UMIT TIROL and the Institute for Sports and Circulatory Medicine at the LKI were merged to form the new Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine and Health Tourism (ISAG).
The merging of two sports and health medicine institutes in Tyrol is unique in the national and international competition of sports medicine and prevention. Alpine medicine is to be seen as a unique selling point on the international stage of sports medicine. Existing networks with external university and non-academic cooperation partners are to be strengthened and new cooperations are being sought. This is of decisive importance, because new fields of activity lie in the growing market of health tourism, where sport and exercise play a decisive role. Despite the merging, the existing locations in Innsbruck and Hall will remain. The ISAG Innsbruck (Anichstrasse 35, clinic area) will take over the agendas of the former Institute for Sports and Circulatory Medicine, the academic agendas of the ISAG in the sense of teaching and research will primarily be fulfilled at the UMIT TIROL (ISAG Hall). The structures of the new ISAG are to ensure the essential objectives of the province of Tyrol in the core competences of sports medicine, alpine medicine and health tourism in the future.