Female Doctors in Sports Medicine

[dr_almondjoy_do]

Hey,

What is life like for a female practicing with a specialization in sports medicine? I know this is traditionally a male-dominated field, but I find it very interesting.

Is there anyone out there already specializing SM or knows something about being a female in a male-dominated specialty? Your input would really be appreciated.

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[Claymore]

I imagine it depends on whether you are doing ortho sports med or family practice/IM sports med...which one are you thinking about?


MS-2
Midwestern University-CCOM

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

I hear that FP is the best bet since it's all encompassing and gives a more primary care approach as opposed to injury repair.

I want to do more of the daily maintenance of the patient/athlete, like nutrition, electrolyte balance, dymennohea (?), and muscle damage. and refer the person out for surgery.

 

[Skaterbabe74]

I have a question on this topic as well...anybody know if FP/IM sports med docs get jobs with sports teams as well or do they typically hire the orthopods?

I know I want to do sports med, but not sure whether I want to do ortho or FP/IM yet..

--Jessica, UCCS

 

[Doctortobee]

Hey

I too am female and want to go into sports med...As of now, I want to go the ortho route!

for the figure skaters!! (This is my 16th year in skating)

 

[Skaterbabe74]

So far I want to go the ortho route as well, but I honestly wasn't aware of the FP/IM route . I've been trying to figure out a way to do the surgeries and keep the "total" patient in mind lol. Gee if the 3 of us all "break" into the so-called "man's" world maybe we can demolish that world hehe.

--Jessica, UCCS
(20+ yr figure skater - 12 yrs serious competition; 5 yr serious dancer)

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

I didn't know about FP/IM until I posted this myself! Do you guys know about any sports medicine clubs at your schools? There is an annual convention being held in Boston, MA next year this time. I say if we start now, we should have enough info to be ready for all the directors and programs at the e convention! I hope we keep this thread going if there is any breaking news. I sure wish someone would rescue us with some answers!

 

[Bookworm]

the only sports medicine doc I know is a woman who went the FP route. So i guess i didn't know it had a male bias (i probably shouldv'e guessed) and the sports medicine club frequently has her as their mentor/guest and many students who are interestd in sports medicine follow her as she goes to various schools for sports physicials. She also a team physician at several schools. She's also great at OMT.

Good luck and best wishes on your future paths.

 

[Claymore]

In my (limited) experience with sports medicine, the role of the primary care (usually FP) doc is complementary to the orthopod. Most high school team physicians are family docs, because they are involved with the many non-surgical aspects of sports medicine such as physicals, managing asthma, exercise prescription, minor bumps/bruises, etc. The orthopod is then consulted on more serious issues requiring a greater degree of intervention.

As you move up in the ranks of athletics, however, I think you see a greater number of specialists, including orthopods. You may have one or two primary care docs overseeing everything and a host of ortho surgeons specializing in different things serving something like a major university's athletic teams or a professional team.

One thing to consider is that most "sports medicine" docs do not practice sports medicine exclusively. Therefore, the route you choose should be dependent on the other aspects of that specialty that appeal to you. If you like primary care go with FP/sports med. If you like other kinds of othopedic problems go ortho/sports med. Incidentally, I believe the fellowship is typically one year following completion of either residency. Good luck!

MS-2
Midwestern University-CCOM

 

[dr_almondjoy_do]

Thanks for the advice Claymore!

Aside from FP and IM, what other subspecialties are there for Sports Medicine? Is there a site or a listing (or someone) that could provide us with the information?

For me personally, I would like to have a FP and specialize in SM, especially in the college setting. I feel that more attention needs to be paid to the female athlete that competes on an NCAA level, especially since more attention is paid to the male althetic clubs on campuses where Class 1-AA sports are played.... what do you guys think? I still have 3 years to work on my pitch!

 

[DocWagner]

Emergency medicine also has fellowships in sports medicine (actually at this university). Personally I believe they make the ideal team docs, from easy situations to life threatening situations (dislocations, to sutures, to intubations, to acls situations).
For those interested, www.saem.org should have info regarding the EM only fellowships, but for the most part, the primary care fellowships also allow EM residents to apply.

 

[edmadison]

My internal medicine preceptor works with our local arena football team. He handles the concussions and, um "personal" problems that the players have (and gets paid fairly modestly). The team's "main" doctor is an orthopod.

Similar situation for our local baseball team (AAA). My peds preceptor does the medical side (he's med/peds) and the same orthopod does the sports side. Of course if any of the real stars get injured, they're going to Alabama.

Ed

 

[drvlad2004]

Sports medicine is a 1 year fellowship. As someone has aluded to before, most of the time you are not working with athletes but with regular patients also. Choose what field you want to go to in which you want to incorporate sports medicine. There are many fields of medicine where you can do a sports med fellowship. It is normally broken up into primary care sports medicine or surgery sports medicine.

Primary care sports medicine include FP, IM, PM&R, and Peds. Surgery Sports Medicine is typically ortho surgery. You can do also do ER/Sports Med. Any of these types of doctors can work with sports teams. For example, the NY Knicks medical staff includes an orthopod who is the head (Dr. Norman Scott), FP doc, and PM&R doc (who is a DO) as part of the team. Other times, an FP doc is the team physician for a major sports franchise, such as the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Indians.

Hence, pick a specialty that makes you happy to do sports medicine along with it.

 

[Skaterbabe74]

Thanks for the great info drvlad! That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for! Especially the info on the "types" of docs sports teams hire!

--Jessica, UCCS

 

[phar]

i have never seen a female in sports medicine. Am i just ignorant?

 

[drvlad2004]

Personally, I do know of female docs who are in sports medicine. The number of females are much fewer compared to men, especially in fields like ortho surgery. I know of a female PM&R doc who completed her sports medicine fellowship at Beth Israel-NY, where the NYY Knicks medical staff works from. Another is an FP/OMM female doc who was one of the many physicians working at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Skaterbabe, thanks for the reply. Also, a sports team will hire the sports doc and that doc gets to choose/hire which docs he needs on his staff.