orthopedic surgeons and sports, NFL, NBA

[surag]

as the NFL season is about to start, i got a few questions.

what kind of physicians are usually on staff? What kind of orthopedic surgeons? Are these the guys with sports fellowships? Do spine specialists also work for teams?

how much do these ortho docs make?

Do they work for a hospital local to the team (e.g. UPMC for the steelers) or do they work solely for the team?

Also, as a side note...do you guys know of people doing both spine and sports fellowships or is that not done?

thanks.

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[skiz knot]

as the NFL season is about to start, i got a few questions.

what kind of physicians are usually on staff? What kind of orthopedic surgeons? Are these the guys with sports fellowships? Do spine specialists also work for teams?

how much do these ortho docs make?

Do they work for a hospital local to the team (e.g. UPMC for the steelers) or do they work solely for the team?

Also, as a side note...do you guys know of people doing both spine and sports fellowships or is that not done?

thanks.

First, I wouldn't go into orthopaedics with the expectation that you would ever land one of these jobs (unless you know exactly the right people).

In terms of what kind of orthopaedists are pro team physicians, I assume it would be mostly sports and f+a docs.

They usually have a practice other than just the sports team (would you want a job that has 2-10 surgeries per year?).

You COULD do spine and sports, but WHY would you want too?

 

[surag]

First, I wouldn't go into orthopaedics with the expectation that you would ever land one of these jobs (unless you know exactly the right people).

In terms of what kind of orthopaedists are pro team physicians, I assume it would be mostly sports and f+a docs.

They usually have a practice other than just the sports team (would you want a job that has 2-10 surgeries per year?).

You COULD do spine and sports, but WHY would you want too?

why would it have to be 'the right' people? why couldnt a sports physician get a gig? I honestly dont think there are that many orthopedic sports fellow surgeons out there. There are a lot of teams in a lot of sports who would need a surgeon at some point or another.

also, when u say 'practice' you mean private then?

 

[skiz knot]

why would it have to be 'the right' people? why couldnt a sports physician get a gig? I honestly dont think there are that many orthopedic sports fellow surgeons out there. There are a lot of teams in a lot of sports who would need a surgeon at some point or another.

also, when u say 'practice' you mean private then?

In terms of 'practice' i mean either private, or university based, i.e. something in addition to their "team" responsibilities.

In your original post you mentioned football specifically two times, I assumed you were talking about getting a pro-football team physician job. Very difficult. In terms of numbers of sports fellowship trained orthopaedic surgeons I am pretty sure sports has the greatest number of fellowships available (and therefore practitioners). If you want to work with a team (H.S., college, or Pro), it is possible, but the big college and PRO jobs are VERY difficult to get. They obviously exist, and not knowing anything about your qualifications, future training and performance, I can not say that you won't ever get one of those coveted jobs, just that they aren't easy to come by. Best of luck.

 

[tideleonheart]

I've actually heard (n=1 attending) that a lot of the pro sports fellows work for very very little - their payment is in the prestige of it.

Would you rather go to Dr. Smith, Orthopedic Surgeon or Dr. Johnson, Team Orthopedic Surgeon of the NY Giants?

 

[durty]

I've actually heard (n=1 attending) that a lot of the pro sports fellows work for very very little - their payment is in the prestige of it.

Would you rather go to Dr. Smith, Orthopedic Surgeon or Dr. Johnson, Team Orthopedic Surgeon of the NY Giants?

make that n=2 for heresay
-durty

 

[indo]

think about your marketing potential as the surgeon for an NFL team.

 

[surag]

think about your marketing potential as the surgeon for an NFL team.

thats interesting, I actually didn't think of that. I guess it makes more sense to be in PP and do this instead of an academic or hospital place then.

 

[indo]

thats interesting, I actually didn't think of that. I guess it makes more sense to be in PP and do this instead of an academic or hospital place then.

You might be able to do it at an academic center but NFL teams require their surgeons to be there every sunday and it would be hard to schedule around that in an academic setting.