How to become Sports Medicine Physician in 2024

Sports Medicine Physician Diagnose, treat, and help prevent injuries that occur during sporting events, athletic training, and physical activities.

Sports Medicine Physician is Also Know as

In different settings, Sports Medicine Physician is titled as

  • Athletic Team Physician
  • Nonsurgical Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician
  • Orthopedic Team Physician
  • Physician
  • Sports Medicine Physician
  • Team Physician

Education and Training of Sports Medicine Physician

Sports Medicine Physician is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Sports Medicine Physician

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Education Required for Sports Medicine Physician

Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Degrees Related to Sports Medicine Physician

Training Required for Sports Medicine Physician

Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Sports Medicine Physician in different industries are

What Do Sports Medicine Physician do?

  • Select and prepare medical equipment or medications to be taken to athletic competition sites.
  • Provide coaches and therapists with assistance in selecting and fitting protective equipment.
  • Advise against injured athletes returning to games or competition if resuming activity could lead to further injury.
  • Observe and evaluate athletes' mental well-being.
  • Participate in continuing education activities to improve and maintain knowledge and skills.
  • Develop and prescribe exercise programs, such as off-season conditioning regimens.
  • Advise athletes on ways that substances, such as herbal remedies, could affect drug testing results.
  • Conduct research in the prevention or treatment of injuries or medical conditions related to sports and exercise.
  • Advise athletes, trainers, or coaches to alter or cease sports practices that are potentially harmful.
  • Attend games and competitions to provide evaluation and treatment of activity-related injuries or medical conditions.
  • Record athletes' medical histories, and perform physical examinations.
  • Supervise the rehabilitation of injured athletes.
  • Refer athletes for specialized consultation, physical therapy, or diagnostic testing.
  • Record athletes' medical care information, and maintain medical records.
  • Inform coaches, trainers, or other interested parties regarding the medical conditions of athletes.
  • Provide education and counseling on illness and injury prevention.
  • Prescribe orthotics, prosthetics, and adaptive equipment.
  • Prescribe medications for the treatment of athletic-related injuries.
  • Order and interpret the results of laboratory tests and diagnostic imaging procedures.
  • Inform athletes about nutrition, hydration, dietary supplements, or uses and possible consequences of medication.
  • Evaluate and manage chronic pain conditions.
  • Examine and evaluate athletes prior to participation in sports activities to determine level of physical fitness or predisposition to injuries.
  • Develop and test procedures for dealing with emergencies during practices or competitions.
  • Coordinate sports care activities with other experts, including specialty physicians and surgeons, athletic trainers, physical therapists, or coaches.
  • Advise coaches, trainers, or physical therapists on the proper use of exercises and other therapeutic techniques, and alert them to potentially dangerous practices.
  • Examine, evaluate and treat athletes who have been injured or who have medical problems such as exercise-induced asthma.
  • Diagnose or treat disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

Qualities of Good Sports Medicine Physician

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.

Tools Used by Sports Medicine Physician

  • Adjustable crutches
  • Automated external defibrillators AED
  • Body fat analyzers
  • Bone densitometers
  • Cast boots
  • Cold therapy equipment
  • Custom orthotics
  • Desktop computers
  • Diagnostic ultrasound scanners
  • Digital spirometers
  • Digital x ray machines
  • Electrocardiography EKG machines
  • Exercise bikes
  • Fitness balls
  • Goniometers or arthrometers
  • Hand dynamometers
  • Heat therapy equipment
  • Inclinometers
  • Iontophoresis equipment
  • Knee braces
  • Laptop computers
  • Magnetic resonance imaging MRI equipment
  • Mechanical stethoscopes
  • Motion capture systems
  • Multipurpose electrotherapy units
  • Muscle stimulators
  • Neurological hammers
  • Orthopedic splints
  • Peak flow meters
  • Pulse oximeters
  • Resistance bands
  • Sonic therapy units
  • Stair climbers
  • Tablet computers
  • Therapeutic diathermy machines
  • Therapeutic parallel bars
  • Therapeutic treadmills
  • Therapeutic weight sets
  • Walking canes
  • Whirlpool tubs

Technology Skills required for Sports Medicine Physician

  • 3D motion analysis software
  • Allscripts PM
  • athenahealth athenaCollector
  • Automatic Data Processing AdvancedMD EHR
  • Benchmark Systems Benchmark Clinical EHR
  • Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
  • CareCloud Central
  • Cerner PowerWorks Practice Management
  • eClinicalWorks EHR software
  • Email software
  • Epic Practice Management
  • Epic Systems
  • GalacTek ECLIPSE
  • GE Healthcare Centricity Practice Solution
  • Greenway Medical Technologies PrimeSUITE
  • HealthFusion MediTouch
  • IOS Health Systems Medios EHR
  • Kareo Practice Management
  • McKesson Practice Plus
  • Meditab IMS Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Word
  • Modernizing Medicine Practice Management
  • NextGen Healthcare NextGen Practice Management
  • OmniMD Sports Medicine EHR
  • PracticeSuite Complete Suite
  • Presagia Sports
  • simplifyMD
  • SpartaTrac
  • Vitera Healthcare Solutions Vitera Intergy
  • Web browser software
  • WRSHealth EMR