What Does an Exercise Physiologist Do?

We looked at the average exercise physiologist annual salary and compared it with the average of an athletic trainer. Generally speaking, athletic trainers receive $2,371 lower pay than exercise physiologists per year.

While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both exercise physiologists and athletic trainers positions are skilled in patients, rehabilitation, and cardiac rehabilitation.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. An exercise physiologist responsibility is more likely to require skills like "ekg," "acsm," "physical therapy," and "blood pressure." Whereas a athletic trainer requires skills like "student athletes," "athletic injuries," "athletic events," and "osha." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.

On average, athletic trainers reach similar levels of education than exercise physiologists. Athletic trainers are 3.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Next up, we have the rehabilitation technician profession to look over. This career brings along a lower average salary when compared to an exercise physiologist annual salary. In fact, rehabilitation technicians salary difference is $19,866 lower than the salary of exercise physiologists per year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Exercise physiologists and rehabilitation technicians both include similar skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," and "physical therapy" on their resumes.

But both careers also use different skills, according to real exercise physiologist resumes. While exercise physiologist responsibilities can utilize skills like "cardiac rehabilitation," "acls," "patient care," and "ekg," some rehabilitation technicians use skills like "occupational therapy," "rehabilitation services," "direct supervision," and "patient treatment."

Rehabilitation technicians may earn a lower salary than exercise physiologists, but rehabilitation technicians earn the most pay in the health care industry with an average salary of $30,968. On the other side of things, exercise physiologists receive higher paychecks in the health care industry where they earn an average of $51,650.

On the topic of education, rehabilitation technicians earn lower levels of education than exercise physiologists. In general, they're 14.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is coordinator cardiopulmonary services. On an average scale, these workers bring in higher salaries than exercise physiologists. In fact, they make a $720 higher salary per year.

Using exercise physiologists and coordinators cardiopulmonary services resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "acls," "ekg," and "phase ii," but the other skills required are very different.

As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from exercise physiologists resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "patients," "rehabilitation," "cardiac rehabilitation," and "patient care." But a coordinator cardiopulmonary services might have skills like "bls," "respiratory care," "critical care," and "nrp."

Coordinators cardiopulmonary services typically study at lower levels compared with exercise physiologists. For example, they're 14.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The fourth career we look at typically earns lower pay than exercise physiologists. On average, wellness coordinators earn a difference of $6,928 lower per year.

While their salaries may vary, exercise physiologists and wellness coordinators both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patients," "patient care," and "physical therapy. "

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "rehabilitation," "cardiac rehabilitation," "acls," and "ekg" are skills that have shown up on exercise physiologists resumes. Additionally, wellness coordinator uses skills like social work, coordinators, booking, and educational materials on their resumes.

In general, wellness coordinators make a higher salary in the education industry with an average of $41,791. The highest exercise physiologist annual salary stems from the health care industry.

Wellness coordinators reach lower levels of education when compared to exercise physiologists. The difference is that they're 5.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 0.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.