General Surgery and Sports Medicine

[tyrsa]

Hi All,

I'm a rising MS4 applying into general surgery. Down the line, one of my goals is to volunteer as a high school football team physician during the season. Would it be possible for a general surgeon to do that? Does general surgery training give one enough knowledge to be able to do a bit of sports medicine on the side? I wouldn't mind doing a Sports Medicine Fellowship, but from what I've read online, they don't seem to be open to General Surgeons. Alternatively, are there courses or electives I'd be able to take (either during residency or after) to make me qualified to do some work in this area?

Thanks!

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[Miles Gloriosus]

Hi All,

I'm a rising MS4 applying into general surgery. Down the line, one of my goals is to volunteer as a high school football team physician during the season. Would it be possible for a general surgeon to do that? Does general surgery training give one enough knowledge to be able to do a bit of sports medicine on the side? I wouldn't mind doing a Sports Medicine Fellowship, but from what I've read online, they don't seem to be open to General Surgeons. Alternatively, are there courses or electives I'd be able to take (either during residency or after) to make me qualified to do some work in this area?

Thanks!

My understanding is that high schools want “a doctor” to be at the games. A fair amount of private orthos I know do this to get business and market themselves. When I was a resident, our program required us to go to these games as walking billboards. Most of these schools (at least where I worked/trained) have athletic trainers do most of the actual work. I just show up and watch the games to be present. After I graduated residency, they assigned my team to a FM and PM&R resident.

If there is no other doc covering the school and they let you be their team doc, then I don’t see why not.....just need to be BLS certified. Might sew up a few lacs and need to know the signs of concussion. You won’t be treating them in the office or in the OR for their MSK injuries. You’ll probably need to send kids to the ED with joint dislocations for reduction. An ortho would be qualified try to reduce these on the field.

 

[deleted997790]

Most places will not let you do this without training in sports medicine. On the sideline, you need to be able to know how to manage heat strokes, arrhythmias, asthma flare ups, dehydration, exercise induced anaphylaxis (extremely rare and something u prob won’t ever see), joint dislocations, muscle sprains, exertional is traumatic compartment syndromes (just recognize these), broken bones, concussions vs non-concussion injuries (who can return to play immediately? How do you assess concussions on the sideline?), how do you stabilize the neck (if you are at the head of the spine board, you call the shots), etc.

It’s much more than just putting them in an ambulance and sending them away. Depending on the caliber of the team, return to play during the same game is an important decision to make. Would you let Lebron James play in the finals after a non-concussive head injury with a suspicious mechanism even if he had no deficits? Would you let Conor mcgregor keep fighting after he suffers a jersey finger incident if it was for a belt?

Most places want an orthopedic surgeon or a primary care doc with a sports medicine fellowship. You can become a ringside physician in Nevada (and some other places) without being a sports med doc, but you’re competing with people who have fellowship training...

 

[tyrsa]

@Tendinosis, thanks for the reply! Do you know if there is a way a General Surgeon can get training in Sports Medicine? Sports Medicine fellowships don't seem to be open to General Surgeons.

 

[deleted997790]

@Tendinosis, thanks for the reply! Do you know if there is a way a General Surgeon can get training in Sports Medicine? Sports Medicine fellowships don't seem to be open to General Surgeons.

Sorry, but there is not an option for general surgeons. Sports medicine fellowships are divided into two categories: surgical (for orthopedic surgeons only) and primary care/non surgical (family medicine, pm&r, internal medicine, ER and/or Peds)...