There is no doubt that 2020 was an interesting, challenging and trying year in the face of the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. Despite these challenges, Current Sports Medicine Reports (CSMR) had an excellent year publishing timely, peer-reviewed, clinically relevant information that is useful for busy sports medicine and primary care providers.

Not surprisingly, the article most accessed through the journal’s website and OVID in 2020 was COVID related. “ACSM Call to Action Statement: COVID 19 Considerations for Sports and Physical Activity” written by Keri Denay, MD, FACSM; Rebecca G. Breslow, MD; Meredith N. Turner, MD; David C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM; William O. Roberts, MD, MS, FACSM; and Thomas M. Best, MD, PhD, FACSM. This article is excellent, and it also highlights ACSM’s global initiative Exercise is Medicine^®. This article is a great summary of the benefits of moderate to vigorous exercise and it highlights the importance of maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle especially during the pandemic. Challenging times require creative thinking and innovative solutions to keep ourselves active and healthy.

The most frequently viewed article in 2020 was “Making a Strong Case for Prioritizing Muscular Fitness in Youth Physical Activity Guidelines,” written by Avery D. Faigenbaum, EdD, FACSM; James P. MacDonald, MD, FACSM; Andrea Stracciolini, MD, FAAP, FACSM; and Tamara Rial Rebullido, PhD. Everyone agrees that getting and keeping kids physically active is important for multiple reasons, but what should that activity include? There has been a lot of focus on aerobic and skill activities as we encourage children to get 60 minutes of moderate vigorous physical activity daily. Dr. Faigenbaum and his co-authors lay out the case for and the importance of muscular fitness in youth physical activity guidelines. In this excellent article, the authors suggest a framework of equal parts aerobic activities, strength activities and skill activities. 

In 2021 CSMR will celebrate its 20th anniversary of publication and we look forward to highlighting the successes over the last 20 years. Beyond our anniversary, 2021 looks to be another great year as CSMR strives to continue to publish articles that make a difference in clinical practice. Planned content for 2021 looks to include the following topics:

• Proposed MSK curriculum in residencies
• Exercise Collapse Associated with Sickle Cell Trait (ECAST)
• Exertional rhabdomyolysis
• Disparities and inequities in youth sports

We are ending 2021 with an edition totally dedicated to mental health issues. Mental health topics have always been popular with the journal’s readership, so the editors decided to pull together this first edition of CSMR totally dedicated to this important topic. It will be great, and we are excited.

We hope you enjoy our content as much as our team enjoys putting it together. If there are topics or authors you would like to see published in CSMR please contact us via email.

Shawn F. Kane, M.D., FACSM, graduated from Gettysburg College with a BS in Biology and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He attended medical school at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and graduated in 1995. He completed his internship and residency in Family Medicine at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, NC, and his Sports Medicine Fellowship at Fort Belvoir, VA. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2018 after having served almost his entire career in the U.S. Army Special Operations Community, including 12 deployments in support of combat operations. He currently serves as an associate professor and physician at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Family Medicine Center. He has been a member of ACSM since 1993 and currently serves as the editor-in-chief for Current Sports Medicine Reports.