Orthopedics and college sports?

[LTbulldogs]

How much of an advantage does a division 1 athlete have when applying for a residency in Orthopedic Surgery?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GeddyLee]

HAHA....I'm sure you're kidding.

It seems to be pretty widely known that if you were in serious college athletics, especially division 1, that you will have no problem gaining acceptance to an orthopedics residency. I don't think you even need to have stellar grades. I guess the rational is that since you played sports you must already know half of what you need to know to practice ortho.

Seriously though...why do these guys have such great success with ortho?

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

Jocks get along with Jocks. It's like a fraternity!

 

[ICUDOC]

It is a huge advantage. I played College football, a defensive back. though every other physician automatically thinks I'm one of the ortho residents. My 2 roommates in med school both went for ortho. One a former water polo player at stanford with mediocre grades, mid of class, slight better than ave boards and matched his first choice, other roomy matched UCSF as an athlete. The list goes on and on. I seriously considered it, but when I was a med student and one of my chiefs couldn't elucidate a-fib....i chose otherwise. Ortho though is a very good field, and always will be. There is no interventional process to take over procedures, such as what is happenning to vasc surgery. CT surgs are way way down, GI is taking over lots of colorectal procedures.............
If you want a good ortho match...hit the books, but also hit the gym.....to go on, roomy was asked how much he benched at Hosp for joint diseases, the PD didn't believe him and took him to the gym...The chair at Brown actually wrestled my other roommate....yeah, you could say it is a big frat.but lots of fun........

 

[CT]

It's been interesting to hear what people have said so far. My question is though, does this "advantage" that comes from playing athletics also extend to people who have undertaken some pretty notable athletic accomplishments (including while in med school), but were not Division 1 athletes? Just curious.

 

[CT]

I guess I should clarify what I mean by notable. I was thinking along the line of what some people in my class have done (during med school), such as marathons and long-distance triathlons. These people were never college athletes, but neverthless have done things that require a fair bit of time.

 

[....]

Originally posted by CT
I guess I should clarify what I mean by notable. I was thinking along the line of what some people in my class have done (during med school), such as marathons and long-distance triathlons. These people were never college athletes, but neverthless have done things that require a fair bit of time.

::adopts best Arnold voice::

Listen too me now tiny man. Waht ies all dis tawk abawt rahning and dee like?? We don need no little sissy girly men in owrtho. With your sissy trail mix and electolytes. You must be PUMPED you must be SHREDED. You bicepts must look like two angry anacondas emerging from your shirt. When you are hungry you must chase and eat a wild pig or cow! IQ + max bench must be greater than 350!

 

[DrDre']

Well, seeing as my IQ ain't that great, I will have to start benching. So I have to bench over 300?

Seriously, to redirect...
What do these orthopods think of endurance sports like marathoning, ultrarunning or long-distance triathlons?

Do they respect the effort or do they only think of team sports and golf as real sports?

Do they have wrestling classes for med students that want to go into ortho?

Off to the gym...

 

[cptnplanetdc]

what about for females?
do girls have an advantage if they played D1 sports?

 

[lattimer13]

Originally posted by cptnplanetdc
what about for females?
do girls have an advantage if they played D1 sports?

i'm sure it can't hurt, but don't know about the advantage factor due to ortho being a relatively male dominated field. but ever heard of Dot Richardson? she played softball at UCLA then went on to do a residency in ortho and took time off during it to play in the 2000 summer olympics and win a gold medal. do a google search on her.

 

[cooldreams]

Originally posted by hightrump
::adopts best Arnold voice::

Listen too me now tiny man. Waht ies all dis tawk abawt rahning and dee like?? We don need no little sissy girly men in owrtho. With your sissy trail mix and electolytes. You must be PUMPED you must be SHREDED. You bicepts must look like two angry anacondas emerging from your shirt. When you are hungry you must chase and eat a wild pig or cow! IQ + max bench must be greater than 350!

WHOO HOOO!!! im in mensa... i was tested at around 155... so i just gotta bench 200?? hahahah!!!!

 

[BiggMann79]

I know a guy that competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics (triple jump) that is taking a leave of absence at the moment (middle of 3rd year) to train for the 2004 Olympics. I believe he wants to do Neurosurgery though.

There is another guy that got accepted to the same medical school but it getting an extended deferment in order to do track professionally for a few years. He is a 5000, 10,000, and steeplechase runner. He was a member of the U.S. World Championship team last year in the steeplechase. I believe he has been quoted as saying he wants to go into orthopedic surgery. So being a TOP distance runner would probably help impress an ortho PD, but most of the guys in the U.S. that do marathons and triathlons really suck compared to the rest of the World. Sure they impress the average schmuck that hears that somebody ran a marathon, but then they get their tails handed to them by the Kenyans. In all the track and field events besides long distance running the Americans are the Kenyans.

As a former NCAA Division I discus thrower who was in the top 50 in my event in the U.S. (and probably fairly high on the World list) I always love pointing these facts out to distance runners.

I'm mainly just kidding, although I liked to say stuff like that to my long distance running friends. Really I have a lot of respect for those guys.

 

[fullefect1]

So a 400lb. bench press will help me? haha sweet.