Jobs after sports medicine

[JBM16BYU]

I believe that in order to stay valuable and relevant, a sports-trained PM&R physician should be able to perform (1) ultrasound-guided procedures (not just injections, but also Tenex/Tenjet, tendon scraping, carpal tunnel releases, and trigger finger releases), (2) diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound, (3) EMG/NCS for bread and butter diagnoses like carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome and radiculopathies, (4) interventional spine procedures, particularly facet joint injections, TFESI, ILESI, and potentially MBB/RFA, in the lumbar region, and (5) EBM regenerative medicine. Post fellowship, practices that hire sports medicine physicians are going to want individuals who bring a variety of skills and get truly add to the practice, to truly be a comprehensive non-operative musculoskeletal physician. Sports medicine fellowships should mirror in their training programs what the job market is expecting them to have post fellowship in order to give fellows the best chance at securing jobs after. Like mentioned previously, there are a host of people claiming to be “MSK experts,” both physician and non-physician. Honestly, how a PM&R physician can get through residency without being given ample opportunity to gain these procedural skills, to the point that they can perform them ethically, correctly, safely and confidently, I think is a disservice to the resident. Fellowships should additionally teach their fellows valuable and new skills.

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[90sportsfan]

I believe that in order to stay valuable and relevant, a sports-trained PM&R physician should be able to perform (1) ultrasound-guided procedures (not just injections, but also Tenex/Tenjet, tendon scraping, carpal tunnel releases, and trigger finger releases), (2) diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasound, (3) EMG/NCS for bread and butter diagnoses like carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome and radiculopathies, (4) interventional spine procedures, particularly facet joint injections, TFESI, ILESI, and potentially MBB/RFA, in the lumbar region, and (5) EBM regenerative medicine. Post fellowship, practices that hire sports medicine physicians are going to want individuals who bring a variety of skills and get truly add to the practice, to truly be a comprehensive non-operative musculoskeletal physician. Sports medicine fellowships should mirror in their training programs what the job market is expecting them to have post fellowship in order to give fellows the best chance at securing jobs after. Like mentioned previously, there are a host of people claiming to be “MSK experts,” both physician and non-physician. Honestly, how a PM&R physician can get through residency without being given ample opportunity to gain these procedural skills, to the point that they can perform them ethically, correctly, safely and confidently, I think is a disservice to the resident. Fellowships should additionally teach their fellows valuable and new skills.

Interesting thread (I know this is an old thread).....I was also really interested in "sports medicine" since I was a kid. I ultimately went with Neuro. I was close to PM&R, but the fact that it is probably the most unknown specialty to the public (nobody knows what it is) and the fact that it overlaps with so many other specialties made me a little nervous.

I digress, having some experience now, I would agree with this post overall. It seems like the "safest" route to non-Ortho Sports Medicine would be PM&R. You are trained in all of the MSK stuff, so even in a general PMR practice, by default, you will get some Sports Medicine. I think the benefit of doing IM or FM + Sports Medicine is that there are plenty of IM/FM jobs, so if you enjoy your primary specialty you could get a IM/FM job and then incorporate Sports Medicine into it.

But it seems like if you are dead-set on "Sports Medicine-only," the "safest" route would be PM&R. Not that it couldn't be done from the IM/FM + Sports Medicine route. Just my prospective.