How To Become A Sports Medicine Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a sports medicine specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Dr. Todd Roach D.C.,

Grayson Lipford Ph.D.

Sports medicine specialists work with sports teams or individuals to offer advice on when it is appropriate for sportsmen to return to their sporting activities to avoid relapses or recurrence of injuries. They perform evaluation and observance of sportsmen's mental health and well-being. They assist team coaches and therapists in choosing and fixing protective equipment on sportsmen. Furthermore, they prescribe and develop exercise programs to aid full recovery. Moreover, they research the treatment of sports-related medical conditions.

Sports medicine specialists must possess excellent communication skills. They must also possess good analytical and problem-solving skills. For this role, you need a degree in medicine with a residency and fellowship in sports medicine. Also, you must have all the necessary licenses and certifications needed to work in a particular area. The gross annual salary of sports medicine specialists is $212,754 or $102 per hour. This varies from $144,148 to $274,229.

What general advice would you give to a sports medicine specialist?

Dr. Todd Roach D.C.

Assistant Professor of Biology, Aurora University

My best advice to new graduates would be not to lose focus. There are a lot of "shiny objects" in healthcare that can be distracting. It doesn't matter if you open your practice or start working for an established tradition; there are many distractions when it comes to attracting and fulfilling patient needs. Find what you are passionate about (i.e., sports rehab, pain control, headaches, etc.) and focus on your message and talents.

ScoreSports Medicine SpecialistUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $76,238

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 18.59%

Black or African American 5.10%

Hispanic or Latino 9.62%

Unknown 4.46%

White 62.06%

Gender

female 40.49%

male 59.51%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.7

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a sports medicine specialist

Explore sports medicine specialist education requirements

Most common sports medicine specialist degrees

Bachelor's

57.2 %

Master's

11.8 %

Associate

9.7 %

Start to develop specific sports medicine specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	26.88%
Patient Care	13.91%
Role Model	9.22%
Adaptive	7.68%
Surgery	5.91%

Complete relevant sports medicine specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sports medicine specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sports medicine specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sports medicine specialist resumes.

Research sports medicine specialist duties and responsibilities

Input clinical notes, demographics, and insurance information utilizing E-Clinicals EMR software.
Perform general husbandry for research animals, including non-human primates, dogs, pigs, rodents, rabbits.
Perform daily husbandry for the research subjects to assure that there are no contamination of the study being perform.
Inoculate and vaccinate patients to immunize them from communicable diseases.

Prepare your sports medicine specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sports medicine specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sports medicine specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable sports medicine specialist resume templates

Build a professional sports medicine specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sports medicine specialist resume.