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What does a sports medicine specialist do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read
Quoted expert
Tyler Standifird Ph.D.

A sports medicine specialist is a health care expert who specializes in diagnosing and treating injuries of athletes. Their responsibilities typically revolve around providing check-ups and consultations, conducting assessments and examinations, developing care and treatment plans, and providing insights to coaches when developing athletic training programs. They may also assist patients by answering inquiries and sharing care advice. A sports medicine specialist typically works in a team setting, which requires an active communication line for a smooth and efficient workflow.

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Sports medicine specialist responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real sports medicine specialist resumes:

  • 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.
  • Assist and independently perform minor procedures, including suturing, incision and drainage.
  • Assist physician with peritoneal catheter insertion.

Sports medicine specialist skills and personality traits

We calculated that 27% of Sports Medicine Specialists are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Role Model. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Leadership skills, and Physical stamina.

We break down the percentage of Sports Medicine Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Patients, 27%

    Inoculate and vaccinated patients to immunize them from communicable diseases.

  • Patient Care, 14%

    Provide direct patient care, including physical examinations, evaluations, assessments, diagnoses and treatment for a specified adult population.

  • Role Model, 9%

    Acted as a role model and promote a positive, fun filled environment for students.

  • Adaptive, 8%

    Developed adaptive sports programs for a variety of disabilities.

  • Surgery, 6%

    Trained temporary employees and assisted management with the development of processes pertaining to surgery scheduling.

  • Soccer, 6%

    Created weekly lesson plans while incorporating early literacy and sports, via, soccer, basketball, football and dodge ball.

"patients," "patient care," and "role model" are among the most common skills that sports medicine specialists use at work. You can find even more sports medicine specialist responsibilities below, including:

Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a sports medicine specialist to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what sports medicine specialists do because "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Additionally, a sports medicine specialist resume shows how sports medicine specialists use communication skills: "maintained constant communication with patients and their families, conveying best methods for discharge care; explained medications and dosage instructions. "

Leadership skills. Many sports medicine specialist duties rely on leadership skills. "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals.," so a sports medicine specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways sports medicine specialist responsibilities rely on leadership skills: "demonstrate clinical care and healthcare leadership, while overseeing and directing a successful multi-specialty, integrative chiropractic practice. "

Physical stamina. This is an important skill for sports medicine specialists to perform their duties. For an example of how sports medicine specialist responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "physicians and surgeons should be comfortable lifting or turning disabled patients, or performing other physical tasks." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a sports medicine specialist: "performed hearing, vision, vital signs, and ekg tests as part of physical examinations of air crews. ".

Problem-solving skills. A big part of what sports medicine specialists do relies on "problem-solving skills." You can see how essential it is to sports medicine specialist responsibilities because "physicians and surgeons need to evaluate patients’ symptoms and administer the appropriate treatments." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sports medicine specialist tasks: "worked closely with older children in areas of mentorship, peer mediation, and conflict resolution. "

Detail oriented. A commonly-found skill in sports medicine specialist job descriptions, "detail oriented" is essential to what sports medicine specialists do. Sports medicine specialist responsibilities rely on this skill because "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." You can also see how sports medicine specialist duties rely on detail oriented in this resume example: "perform detailed fitness/performance evaluations on both new and existing clients; testing a wide range of athletic performance factors. "

Most common sports medicine specialist skills

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Compare different sports medicine specialists

Sports medicine specialist vs. Athletic team physician

An athletic trainer is a healthcare professional who works with physicians to improve a patient's quality of life. Their profession encompasses the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of chronic medical conditions involving disabilities, functional limitations, and impairments. As an athletic trainer, you will typically do various tasks, including recognizing and evaluating injuries, providing emergency care or first aid, and developing and implementing rehabilitation programs. You are also responsible for planning and implementing programs to help prevent sports injuries among athletes.

The annual salary of athletic team physicians is $154,290 higher than the average salary of sports medicine specialists.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between sports medicine specialists and athletic team physicians are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like soccer, sales floor, and product knowledge.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sports medicine specialist responsibilities require skills like "patients," "patient care," "role model," and "adaptive." Meanwhile a typical athletic team physician has skills in areas such as "student athletes," "ncaa," "customer service," and "championship." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

The education levels that athletic team physicians earn slightly differ from sports medicine specialists. In particular, athletic team physicians are 7.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a sports medicine specialist. Additionally, they're 6.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Sports medicine specialist vs. Athletic trainer

A certified athletic trainer is a health and medical expert who specializes in providing health care assistance to athletes. They typically devise strategies to prevent injuries during training sessions and other activities, develop health care plans, and provide immediate care or first aid when injuries occur. There are also instances where they work together with physicians and other health care professionals, such as when diagnosing and treating injuries, developing rehabilitation structures, and administrating other health care services.

A career as a athletic trainer brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a sports medicine specialist. In fact, athletic trainers salary is $29,210 lower than the salary of sports medicine specialists per year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Sports medicine specialists and athletic trainers both require similar skills like "patients," "patient care," and "soccer" to carry out their responsibilities.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, sports medicine specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "role model," "adaptive," "surgery," and "internal medicine." Meanwhile, an athletic trainer has duties that require skills in areas such as "student athletes," "athletic injuries," "compassion," and "osha." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Average education levels between the two professions vary. Athletic trainers tend to reach similar levels of education than sports medicine specialists. In fact, they're 5.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 6.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for sports medicine specialists in the next 3-5 years?

Tyler Standifird Ph.D.Tyler Standifird Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University

I am excited to see how the ability to detect movement and health will continue to improve. Activity monitors can do everything from HR to simple EKG measurements. We have sleep tracking and physical activity tracking, and all of these things will need to get better. Wearable sensors that can put out fitness and essential health metrics will be the most crucial trend shortly. AS a part of that is an ability for exercise professions, therapists, and doctors to use these devices to gather data without having to see a patient. A therapist or doctor can get some basic idea of the range of motion of a joint, strength in a muscle, cardiovascular issues, sleep issues, and even essential brain activity.

Sports medicine specialist vs. Certified athletic trainer

Physical therapists are health care professionals who diagnose and treat patients with health conditions and limited ability to move and perform daily activities. They help in restoring physical function and mobility and teach how to properly use therapeutic exercise techniques. They also help promote overall wellness and encourage healthier and more active lifestyles. They design a recovery plan unique for every patient, provide treatment and therapy to help improve and manage their condition. They provide care to all kinds of individuals, from newborns to people at the end of their life.

On average scale, certified athletic trainers bring in lower salaries than sports medicine specialists. In fact, they earn a $29,054 lower salary per year.Using the responsibilities included on sports medicine specialists and certified athletic trainers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "patients," "patient care," and "soccer.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from sports medicine specialist resumes include skills like "role model," "adaptive," "surgery," and "internal medicine," whereas a certified athletic trainer is more likely to list skills in "resuscitation," "osha," "athletic training room," and "acute care. "

When it comes to education, certified athletic trainers tend to earn higher degree levels compared to sports medicine specialists. In fact, they're 6.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 7.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Sports medicine specialist vs. Physical therapist

Physical therapists tend to earn a lower pay than sports medicine specialists by an average of $3,168 per year.According to resumes from sports medicine specialists and physical therapists, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "patients," "adaptive," and "rehabilitation. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A sports medicine specialist uses "patient care," "role model," "surgery," and "soccer." Physical therapists are more likely to have duties that require skills in "home health," "quality care," "treatment programs," and "snf. "In general, physical therapists hold similar degree levels compared to sports medicine specialists. Physical therapists are 2.5% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 8.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of sports medicine specialist

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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