Top Sports Medicine School
Sports Medicine Doctor
A sports medicine doctor is a medical doctor that specializes in the treatment of sports injuries, often associated with a professional or college athletic team. They are trained specifically to help prevent injury or diagnose treatment for injuries to bones, joints and muscles. A sports medicine doctor can also work in a group practice setting, alongside other doctors who specialize in rehabilitation or surgery of a specific area of the body, such as the knee, shoulder, hips, legs, and elbows. The field involves all aspects of fitness, helping patients understand proper exercise techniques, cardiovascular fitness, injury prevention and treatment, and surgery and rehabilitation. Some sports medicine doctors spend their work week alternating between training athletes to avoid injury and diagnosing injuries or performing surgery.
A Growing Need for Sports Medicine Doctors
This career is in high demand, and will continue to be so, as knowledge of orthopedic procedures will be necessary in an increasingly aging community. The number of “weekend warriors”, or average people who over-exerts themselves, often causing injury to joints and muscles, is on the rise, and children are entering sports at an even earlier age than ever before. Sports medicine doctors have reported seeing an increase in childhood injuries, as organized sports increase in popularity. Younger patients are now requiring rehabilitation and even surgery for overuse injuries. The demand for qualified sports medicine doctors will continue to rise in the years to come. A first- and second- year sports doctor can expect to earn approximately $266,000 a year, moving up to $379,000 in the third year of practice, topping out at an average of $762,000 a year.
Education Requirements for a Sports Medicine Doctor
Here are five reasons why education is important, if you want to become a sports medicine doctor.
- You should have a strong love for the sciences, including math, chemistry, and physics. High school grades, in these courses, should be excellent.
- You will need to earn a bachelor’s degree in a pre-med field, or science, earning top grades to qualify for entry into a medical school.
- After completing medical school, it will be necessary to enter a residency program, where you choose a specialty to focus on, such as orthopedics, cardiac and respiratory specialties, or some other field.
- After completing a residency program, you will enter a three- to five- year fellowship program that allows you to learn about sports injuries or assist orthopedic surgeons.
- In total, the education required to become a sports medicine doctor will take approximately 12-15 years, so it is not a job for the faint of heart.
Sports medicine will continue to be a field that is in demand, earns a high salary and offers a variety of specialties to choose from. Your patients might vary from a professional athlete to someone in their eighties or nineties. Your job will range from helping prevent injury to performing surgery and rehabilitation. If you have an aptitude for the sciences, have patience and endurance to get through many years of education, and love sports and fitness, then a career as a sports medicine doctor might just be for you.
