MD or DPM

[bikes&bones]

Currently a pre-med, and my career goal is to go into surgical orthopedic sports medicine. I would love to hear any thoughts on choosing the DPM versus MD route.

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[I Drink Riesling]

If you want to do ortho sports med, then going the MD route will probably be a better fit. You will do more sports med stuff related to the ENTIRE musculoskeletal system, and not just the foot and ankle. In podiatry, sports med pathologies do exist and a lot of podiatrists do them, but they don’t exclusively specialize in it. You will still need to supplement with diabetic foot/wound care, electives, trauma, or, recon as a podiatrist. Hope this helps!

 

[Weirdy]

What Riesling said above.

You are locked into foot and ankle the first day you start podiatry school.

If your goal is orthopedics- you should be aiming for MD/DO.
This is especially true if you do not know what you want to operate on yet.

You may change your decision regarding specialties many times during and even after medical school.
Sometimes life events happen that force you into a different specialty- and that's OK.

Keep an open mind. If your goal right now is some kind of orthopedic sports medicine, you need to be aiming for MD/DO programs. A DPM degree is not an equivalent replacement. We do cool stuff with the foot and ankle, but we are not orthopedic surgeons and we are locked in from day 1.

Also highly encourage you to shadow both podiatrists and orthopedists thoroughly.
Don't short sell yourself or take the easy way, quick way out. Deep down inside you know what you want.

 

[air bud]

What Riesling said above.

You are locked into foot and ankle the first day you start podiatry school.

If your goal is orthopedics- you should be aiming for MD/DO.
This is especially true if you do not know what you want to operate on yet.

You may change your decision regarding specialties many times during and even after medical school.
Sometimes life events happen that force you into a different specialty- and that's OK.

Keep an open mind. If your goal right now is some kind of orthopedic sports medicine, you need to be aiming for MD/DO programs. A DPM degree is not an equivalent replacement. We do cool stuff with the foot and ankle, but we are not orthopedic surgeons and we are locked in from day 1.

Also highly encourage you to shadow both podiatrists and orthopedists thoroughly.
Don't short sell yourself or take the easy way, quick way out. Deep down inside you know what you want.

Locking thread thread in 3,21.....

Toenails

 

[APMLEHATER]

As a current pod student, I'd suggest MD or DO. Both can get you to the ortho sports med position you want. Pod is kind of a clown show. They can't even get a licensing exam done without major drama. And like the others said, you're stuck with just foot and ankle. Which isn't necessarily an issue. Plenty of MD's and DO's will specialize in foot and ankle surgery. However, as things currently stand there is too much drama in the pod field. We also get lower reimbursement rates for the exact same surgeries/procedures that MD's and DO's will perform. Stay away from pod and you'll get better pay and less drama.

 

[PodDude12345]

The mods will lock convos for minor infractions but let this guy keep posting talking **** to prospective students lol guy if you hate it so much then leave. Stop trying to bring everyone else down with it man.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Currently a pre-med, and my career goal is to go into surgical orthopedic sports medicine. I would love to hear any thoughts on choosing the DPM versus MD route.

Use the search function, please. There have been plenty of threads discussing this topic in the past. If you are interested in Podiatry, shadow.
Good luck!