PM&R Sports Medicine Fellowship

[dreambig2night]

what is the scope of a PM&R sports medicine practise?

How different is it from a family med doc who does a sports medicine fellowship?

Anyone know how much sports medicine physiatrists earns? Salary.com says sports medicine docs can make upto $350K. I dont know if that is true. If it is, what do they do to earn so much?

It seems comparable to how much pain docs earn...but I dont hear a lot about people trying to compete to get into sports medicine fellowships.

thanks!

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[PMR 4 MSK]

PM&R and FP sports med are similar in scope and practice, doing non-operative sports medicine. Most sports med is purely E&M, so salaries are likely less than $350K, unless you are seeing 50+ pts/day. Also, you are often expected to be in attendance at many sports events - high school football and other HS sports, college sports, pro and semi-pro. Often in a group, these are split up. These are typically unpaid, or at best, in-kind advertising granted. I've never had a patient come to me and said they came to see me because of a sign up at a sporting event. In some areas of the country, there is competion to be a team doc, in others, no one wants to do it.

PM&R might make more from having a larger # of procedures to call on in use, but any FP can learn most injection techniques for sports med. The main advantage that PM&R would have is EMGs - these pay significantly more than office visits. But nerve injuries are not that common in sports, so it's use is limited.

Of course if you want the big bucks - do ortho sports med. They're second only to spine. Shoulder and knee scopes on young, otherwise healthy patients apparently pays very, very well.

 

[DistantMets]

That salary is likely for ortho sports med. My impression is that sports med doesn't really add a lot of salary other than a few more joint injections. It adds unpaid hours to you week for event coverage. I think it makes a nice change to your practice base...younger, more athletic, motivated people which is a huge draw for some. You have to be a busy team doc to make your practice mostly sports med. For FP that means more MSK in practice. PM&R does EMG and sometimes interventional spine. Having a sports background would add more acute vs. the typically chronic MSK issues. Where FP might see a little bump in pay, I don't know that a general physiatrist would see much of a difference. FPs have to brush up on MSK, PM&R has to relearn some medical stuff that comes into play and more acute ortho mgt.

I think a lot of people like the variety it adds but I doubt it more than a third of most practices so pick a base speciality that you like the best.

 

[dreambig2night]

I saw a few EMGS and NCS.....for some reason it didnt excite me too much. But I didnt know it paid well either!!!

Thanks for the responses.

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

I saw a few EMGS and NCS.....for some reason it didnt excite me too much. But I didnt know it paid well either!!!

It's amazing how much one's enthusiasm for something increases as one gets paid more to do it. At least for me it does.

 

[ml2001]

It's amazing how much one's enthusiasm for something increases as one gets paid more to do it. At least for me it does.

I think that is how human mindset is in today's world. And specially in these economic situations, making as much money as possible is even more relevant. I'm sure there still are people like Gandhi's out there, but the percentage would be very less. I certainly don't fall into that category specially with the amount of med school loans I have. My 0.02 cents....

-ML

 

[dreambig2night]

Anyone have any idea on the competitivness of fellowships? Pain is numero uno. How about TBI, SCI, Stroke, Pediatric Rehab, Sports?

by the way, my remark was just an exclamation of surprise. I definitely want to do something I like.

I think ill be happy with a salary of $200,000. I dont know if $250,000 will make me anymore happier...unless most physiatrists do EMGs and NCS all the time to make $200,000.