How do i become a sports doctor?

[zupneja]

Hi, i'm a 19 year old second year university student in windsor, Ontario Canada. I have always wanted to be a doctor but also wanted to combine it with my passion for sports. What would my path be from now (2nd year university) to becoming a professional team doctor/surgeon.

Thanks

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[ndafife]

You become an orthopedic surgeon, then you become one of the best orthopedic surgeons. I'd guess it also would help to know some of the right people - like someone who already is a sports team doctor.

 

[gyngyn]

You become an orthopedic surgeon, then you become one of the best orthopedic surgeons. I'd guess it also would help to know some of the right people - like someone who already is a sports team doctor.

Orthopedic surgery is not required to do Sports Medicine: http://www.amssm.org/

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

I'm pretty sure you can do a fellowship in Sports Medicine with residency training in EM, IM, Family, Peds...

 

[ndafife]

Orthopedic surgery is not required to do Sports Medicine: http://www.amssm.org/

I understand that. But OP was talking about being a professional sports team doctor. Looking at a few NFL team websites (and using that to assume the nature for other professional sports), that is a profession that is almost exclusively populated by orthopedic surgeons

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Do a sports medicine fellowship at one of the following institutions:
HSS, Rush, Pitt, Kerlan-Jobe, Steadman Clinic, Andrews Institute, Stanford, or any program that's affiliated with a professional team.

But first you have to match into a competitive academic ortho program, which is very difficult in and of itself.

 

[WingedOx]

I understand that. But OP was talking about being a professional sports team doctor. Looking at a few NFL team websites (and using that to assume the nature for other professional sports), that is a profession that is almost exclusively populated by orthopedic surgeons

Do a sports medicine fellowship at one of the following institutions:
HSS, Rush, Pitt, Kerlan-Jobe, Steadman Clinic, Andrews Institute, Stanford, or any program that's affiliated with a professional team.

But first you have to match into a competitive academic ortho program, which is very difficult in and of itself.

Eh, who says you need to treat pro athletes to have a fun sports-related career though? Plenty of HS athletes and weekend warriors like myself out there who need good sports med docs when we decide to go in a little too hard on that slide tackle.

No idea what the sports med job market is like, but those I've met who are employed in it all seemed to really like their work.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

Eh, who says you need to treat pro athletes to have a fun sports-related career though? Plenty of HS athletes and weekend warriors like myself out there who need good sports med docs when we decide to go in a little too hard on that slide tackle.

No idea what the sports med job market is like, but those I've met who are employed in it all seemed to really like their work.

Most sports injuries are of the non-surgical nature anyway.

 

[Law2Doc]

I understand that. But OP was talking about being a professional sports team doctor. Looking at a few NFL team websites (and using that to assume the nature for other professional sports), that is a profession that is almost exclusively populated by orthopedic surgeons

Actually with the focus on concussions these days, neurology is probably an equally good route.

The question is what do you mean by sports doctor. If you mean taking care of the guy who hurt himself playing pick up basketball, or the runner who gets shin splints or the little girl who has a dislocated shoulder from gymnastics, then going into ortho or FM will let you get there easily. If you are talking about being a team doctor for professional sports, it's going to be a longer harder road that probably won't pan out. Probably you'll need to end up as an orthopedist working at one of the hospitals which services a professional team, and worm your way in past colleagues who were there first. A lot of the time it's an expensive proposition because teams don't pay their doctors, hospitals pay the team to be able to claim they are the official doctors of the X team.

I would focus on being the kind of doctor you want first, because we aren't talking about your first job out of residency.

 

[zupneja]

So lets pause on the sports team thing and focus on orthopedic surgeon. what does the road look like there? what do i have to do and how long are we talking? should my EC's and stuff be any different

 

[deleted407021]

I seem to recall from the PM&R forum that a few big name sportsball docs were physiatry trained. Could be wrong, but worth it to look up since y'all seem stuck on ortho.

So lets pause on the sports team thing and focus on orthopedic surgeon. what does the road look like there? what do i have to do and how long are we talking? should my EC's and stuff be any different

Just for ortho? You need to get into as good a med school as you can. This should be your default goal. Some established DO schools match fairly well into that specialty, but you ought to do your best to go to an MD granting institution. As far as what you need to do to accomplish that, look around. You're in the right place. You can't be a surgeon unless you're first a physician, so work on that goal now.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

So lets pause on the sports team thing and focus on orthopedic surgeon. what does the road look like there? what do i have to do and how long are we talking? should my EC's and stuff be any different

In terms of EC's, no, nothing should be any different. If you're really interested in Ortho, you might try to shadow someone in that field just for your own personal interest. But medical schools won't expect you to have figured anything out in regards to your future specialty. Just focus on doing well in college and getting into med school!

In terms of timeframe, you're looking at the standard 4 years of med school plus probably 5 years of residency?

It's great that you have an idea now of what might interest you. But I wouldn't stress too much about it. The purpose of clinical rotations in medical school is to help you choose the specialty that's right for you. Which doors will be open to you at that point will depend mostly on how you perform in medical school.

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

I seem to recall from the PM&R forum that a few big name sportsball docs were physiatry trained. Could be wrong, but worth it to look up since y'all seem stuck on ortho.


Just for ortho? You need to get into as good a med school as you can. This should be your default goal. Some established DO schools match fairly well into that specialty, but you ought to do your best to go to an MD granting institution. As far as what you need to do to accomplish that, look around. You're in the right place. You can't be a surgeon unless you're first a physician, so work on that goal now.

Ortho docs are usually the head physicians when it comes to professional sports. That said, pm&r is an ideal field for sports medicine.

 

[The Buff OP]

I'm pretty sure you can do a fellowship in Sports Medicine with residency training in EM, IM, Family, Peds...

Also you gotta know how to throw a football over them mountains, breh.

Corny joke, I know. =p

 

[Optimus-Prime]

Union Memorial in Baltimore is the official hospital for the Ravens,

They have a beast ankle surgeon and regional hand center, but I'm sure most the big surgeries got to Andrews and Anderson. That being said there are a handful of family medicine docs with sports fellowships that work alot with the team and get sideline access, met one at happy hour

 

[TXPMR]

Most "head team physicians" among the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL are orthopaedic surgery trained. However, every one of these teams have non-operative physicians who are a part of the medical staff as well. So, there is someone to take care of the ortho/operative side and someone to take care of the medical/non-operative ortho side. Also, among other sports such as minor league professional teams, boxing/combat sports, and Olympic sports, "head team physicians" have wide ranging training backgrounds.

That said, here's my typical run down of pathways to sports med:

1. Orthopaedic surgery: very competitive, need great board scores. HAVE to like surgery. Residency is grueling but practice, depending on setting, can be very busy to cush-ish. Fast track to "head team physician" for major pro teams if that's your thing. Not as much training in non-operative MSK medicine compared to PM&R. Great pay all around. Only orthopaedic surgery trained physicians can do orthopaedic surgery sports medicine fellowships.

2. PM&R/physiatry: generally less competitive but getting a lot more competitive especially at the "top" places. Have to get over the fact that when you say you are PM&R/a physiatrist most people are like "huh"? (this can actually be a hang up for people). Otherwise have to like a lot of different areas: neuro, ortho, a little bit of medicine. If it's your thing, out all the other paths to sports med docdom PM&R is second to ortho in terms of procedures available (interventional spine, US injections, EMGs). AWESOME lifestyle. Actually great pay when you consider the hours/relative lack of stress involved. PM&R trained physicians are eligible for PM&R based ACGME fellowships (for which only PM&R physicians can do) and primary care/family medicine based fellowships.

3. FM: competitive to not competitive at all: can literally walk in to some of the lower tiered FM programs (but they may not have any sports/MSK faculty). Great jumping off point for the medical care of the athlete since your backbone is the medical care of all ages and types. Much less neuro compared to PM&R and much less ortho compared to ortho/PM&R. But you will be THE medicine guru when it comes to athletes. Ok lifestyle depending on your practice mix. Pay is moderate.

4. IM: competitive to not competitive at all. Have a medicine backbone like FM but get MUCH less outpatient exposure these days in residency in most places. Even at some of the top IM residencies in the country, IM residents come out with the MSK knowledge of medical student. So IM residents interested in sports really have to push for outpatient MSK/sports exposure since most programs aren't geared that way. Plus as mentioned IM residents never really take care of kids which is a minus for a well rounded sports doc. Lifestyle can be what you make it. Pay can actually be pretty high if you take hospitalist type jobs on the side.

5. Peds: competitive to not competitive at all. Have an excellent pediatric medicine backbone and good training in outpatient medicine, but in general, peds residents are relatively deficient in adult sports medicine when coming out of residency compared to all other specialties that feed into sports med. Lifestyle can be what you make it depending if you have a strictly outpatient practice vs. urgent care vs. part-time hospitalist. Pay varies from low to high depending on your practice set up.

5. EM: competitive to moderately competitive...in general you have to actually be a decent candidate to match into any EM program. AWESOME at taking care of acute issues/injuries medical and MSK related, not so awesome at longitudinally taking care of patients (or at least not part of the core residency training at most places). Lifestyle and pay is what you make it depending on how many ER shifts you take on the side.