Do you want to know how much salary will you make with sports medicine doctor? In this article, you will learn the high salaries that are expected in sports medicine. Sports medicine is a medical specialization focused on preventing and treating injuries and illnesses related to physical exercise and athletic activity.
Sports medicine doctors have different specialties, with some of them specializing in physical therapy and others specializing in diagnosing athletic injuries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, sports medicine doctors can earn an average income of about $280,000 annually.
Sports Medicine is the field of medicine that involves the study and treatment of sports injuries. Sports Medicine doctors are often referred to as orthopedic surgeons and have hospital facilities affiliated with them. A Sports Medicine doctor will specialize on one part of an athlete’s anatomy or a specific sport. The field is also sometimes called sports injury prevention and involves designing programs to prevent athletes from sustaining injuries.
Salary For Sports Medicine Doctor Overview
Sports medicine physicians are often called upon to see patients as soon as possible after an injury has occurred, and they may be required to stay with the patient until they have fully recovered. Sports medicine physicians also help patients with injuries that are not related to sports, but they may also treat athletes who are injured while practicing or competing in a sport.
Sports medicine physicians can be found in both hospitals and private practice. Most specialize in treating injuries and illnesses related to sports and exercise, including knee injuries, ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, muscle strains and sprains. They may work with athletes at all levels of competition from professional athletes to recreational players.
The average salary for a sports medicine physician is $277,000 annually according to Payscale’s salary data. The highest-paid 10 percent earn $455,000 or more annually while the lowest-paid 10 percent earn $158,000 or less annually.
What’s the Salary of Sports Medicine Physicians?
In this section, we’re going to report the average, bottom, and top salaries for sports medicine physicians, with the help of a few trusted sources.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average physician earns $203,450 per year. Unfortunately, the website doesn’t specify the salary of sports medicine physicians. But you can rest assured that your salary can be at least that high once you establish yourself in the field.
Other trusted websites offer statistics that are more specific to sports medicine physicians. According to Payscale, sports medicine physicians earn an average of $183,199 per year, with a $9,826 bonus and a $17,500 profit share. That’s over $210,000 per year!
ZipRecruiter provides details on the salaries of actual sports physician jobs around the United States. Per their statistics, the lowest paid sports medicine physician job is $135,000, which, as far as the worst scenarios go, doesn’t seem too bad.
Okay, so we’ve established that sports medicine physicians earn a lot of money. But how can we tell whether this will continue and that the job market for sports medicine physicians is reliable? This concern is warranted, but thankfully, you don’t need to worry.
According to the BLS, the job market for physicians will grow by 7% between 2018 and 2028, which is encouraging. The growth rate may be higher for sports medicine physicians, given the massive growth rate of other sports medicine professionals (22% for physical therapists, 19% for athletic trainers, and 11% for dieticians and nutritionists).
How Do I Become a Sports Medicine Physician?
Does this profession sound like a fit for you? We encourage you to become a sports medicine physician, but we don’t want you to go in blind. There are several steps required to become a sports medicine physician, which we will detail in this section.
First, you must obtain a bachelor’s degree. If you want to study the most pertinent topics for aspiring physicians, consider choosing biology or chemistry as your major. But here’s a fun fact: medical schools accept students of all backgrounds. So study biology if you want, but you can also study music, politics, anthropology, art, or almost anything else and still gain admission.
Next, you need to go to medical school. These programs usually last four years and are where students begin to study the subjects specific to their path and begin their work in a clinical setting. In medical school, you will obtain a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree, which is required for sports medicine physicians.
Schooling is finished after you complete graduate school, but you can’t become a sports medicine physician quite yet. After obtaining an MD, graduates must pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Then, they must complete a three-to-four-year residency a licensed and practicing physician, ideally a sports medicine physician.
After finishing their residency, aspiring sports medicine physicians must complete a fellowship program. This program entails a one or two year program that’s more integrated and demanding than a residency. It will orient you to the nuances of the profession and provide you with the skills required of sports medicine physicians.
Finally, students can obtain a Certificate of Added Qualifications in sports medicine. While the CAQ isn’t mandatory, it is recommended for physicians who singularly want to practice sports medicine.
And that’s it. Altogether, that’s about 13 to 14 years of study and clinical experience, beginning with your bachelor’s degree, before becoming a full-blown sports medicine physician. Then, you can start making an excellent salary, working with leading athletes, and working in the field you’ve wished to join for years
