Name: So You Want to Be a SPORTS MEDICINE DOCTOR [Ep. 15]
Uploaded: 2020-09-12T19:05:27.000Z
Duration: 11 min 56 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So you want to be a sports medicine physician.

You like the idea of working with top athletes and helping them heal from their injuries.

Let's debunk the public perception myths of what it means to be a sports medicine doctor,

Welcome to our next installment in So You Want to Be.

In this series, we highlight a specific specialty within medicine, such as sports medicine,

and help you decide if it's a good fit for you.

You can find the other specialties on our So You Want to Be playlist.

Make sure you're subscribed if you want to vote for future episodes.

Sports medicine doctors are the non-surgical musculoskeletal specialists, taking care of

MSK injuries for athletes and active patients.

Think of them as doing everything an orthopedic surgeon does without any surgery, but with

While orthopedic surgeons who undergo an ortho sports medicine fellowship are the experts

on surgical management of MSK injuries, they are less able to address other realms of the

Since most sports medicine doctors have a primary care background, most commonly family

medicine, they're also well suited in addressing the full spectrum of patient and athlete needs.

They serve as a single hub and point person in the patient's management, including and

Sports medicine physicians provide the full spectrum of care for anyone that wants to

be active, whether an athlete or couch to 5k jogger.

For example, they'll work up a young type 1 diabetic patient who is interested in playing

sports, or determine when an adolescent can return to contact sports after a bout of mononucleosis,

The age range of patients is wide, from school age to the elderly.

Younger patients often break bones and experience concussions, while older patients often develop

arthritis and other degenerative conditions which you'll help manage.

Compared to other specialties, in clinic there's less continuity, and a larger turnover of

Sports medicine doctors see a high number of new patients who have acute MSK injuries

As their sports medicine physician, your job is to diagnose, treat, and have them back

The main exception to this rule is arthritis.

While not surgical, sports medicine physicians still perform plenty of procedures, including

diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound guided injections for joints, tendons, nerves etc.

There are a few ways to categorize sports medicine.

Team vs Clinical A team physician is the sports medicine doctor

who is the provider for the athletes on a sports team.

For example, you could be the team doctor for a high school basketball team, watching

from the sidelines and taking care of any injuries that happen in the game.

Outside of game time, you'll be helping manage their acute and chronic injuries.

This isn't viable as a standalone business practice, and you'll also be seeing patients

In clinic, you'll work either for yourself in a private practice or a larger health entity

– regardless, patients will be sent your way through referrals, or you'll create

a patient population where you're taking care of athlete-related problems, most of

Work In vs Out of an Orthopedic Practice If you want to do strictly sports medicine

without much primary care, you can work within an orthopedic practice, seeing the non-operative

You'll be employed by the orthopedics group or department, working alongside the surgeons,

and handling all the cases that don't require surgical management or acting as the gatekeeper

who sees all new patients to determine whether their issue is operative or non-operative.

You'll be an essential part of the team, helping boost everyone's productivity.

How to Become a Sports Medicine Doctor After four years of medical school, there

are a few different routes to become a sports medicine physician.

The overwhelming majority of sports medicine physicians first complete a family medicine

residency, but you can also go through emergency medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, or

The specialty you come from is important, as your practice will likely be a blend of

sports medicine and your primary specialty.

Fellowship is generally 1 year, although some are 2 year programs which are more research

In fellowship, sideline coverage of team games is required, as is training room time, meaning

This can be done on site for the affiliated college or nearby sports teams.

Some fellowships will provide opportunities to be the team doctor for higher level athletes

including division 1 college, olympic, or professional sports, while others will have

limited exposure to higher level athletes.

Almost all fellowships work with some kind of college athletics.

You'll also be spending the majority of your time rotating in primary care sports

medicine clinic, but also rotating with orthopedic surgery sports clinic to understand their

patients' recovery process and complications to be mindful of.

Note that as a medical student, you probably won't get exposure to the specialty unless

It's not a core rotation, although you may be able to secure elective time on primary

care sports medicine, not to be confused with surgical sports medicine with the orthopods.

As a premed, see if you can shadow a sports medicine physician, and as a medical student

see if there are any preceptor opportunities with a sports med doc.

Explore the specialty and shadow physicians doing sideline coverage of games.

What You'll Love About Sports Medicine There's a lot to love about sports medicine.

Because being mobile and physically active is central to people enjoying their lives,

your job is incredibly rewarding – you'll take patients who are injured and help them

get back to living a fulfilling and active life.

You're generally seeing patients that have favorable outcomes, and experience “wins”

It's quite satisfying to have a patient with knee pain secondary to arthritis limp

into clinic and then watch them walk out pain free after you perform an injection.

And speaking of favorable outcomes, another underappreciated aspect is that the vast majority

of patients are generally healthier and highly motivated to get better.

In some other specialties, you may experience frustration with a non-adherent patient whose

condition could improve, but has more difficulty following the treatment plan.

If you're a big sports fan, you'll love that you get paid to attend sports games and

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So You Want to Be a SPORTS MEDICINE DOCTOR [Ep. 15]

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