<p>Hey guys i'm currently a junior in high school and i'm interested in sports medicine.
I was wondering if u guys can explain the different fields within sports medicine or know any sites tat explain it.</p>
<p>for example like
pm&r sports medicine
fp sports medicine
ors sports medicine.</p>
<p>wat are the differences and how does each specialist impact the field of sports medicine?</p>
<p>and also how does one get there?
is it just like normal MD studies? where its undergrad w/ pre-med and then med school plus internship?</p>
<p>any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks!</p>
<p>path is just as you described:</p>
<p>undergrad->medical school->residency->fellowship in sports medicine</p>
<p>How each of them approaches it will vary. In a very general sense I'd say that a family practice doc (or other primary care specialty one might pursue before sports med) is going to be much more likely to deal with acute and less severe injuries - sprains, strains, minor tears, breaks, and such, as well as prevention of these. They might volunteer as trainers at high schools or be part of a general medical staff overseeing certified athletic trainers for a college or pro teams.</p>
<p>Orthopedic surgeons are obviously going to deal with the surgical aspects of sports injury and doing surgical repair of serious injuries. Without doing any specific research I would venture that repairing a torn ACL in a HS athlete (or any physically active person) is likely different than repairing a tear in a 73 year old. Things like Tommy John surgery are obviously not done on most people.</p>
<p>Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialists are going to be more concerned with the sport specific rehab of injuries, strengthening muscles and joints for use in specific sports - rehabbing a shoulder for swimming is different than rehabbing a shoulder for pole vaulting (I used that example b/c I have an old girlfriend and a decent friend who were a swimmer and vaulter respectively in college who suffered shoulder injuries).</p>
<p>Now there is probably a fair amount of common ground between each specialty, particularly if you are not in the employ of a college or professional team - things like volunteering for School districts is probably pretty common, and there is likely some similarities in how they all look at prevention of injuries too.</p>
<p>While it's great that you have an interest in sports med, as a HS jr, I think it would be wise to keep an open mind - you're more than a decade away from having to make that decision. Most medical students have little clue as to what specialty they want to enter until well into their third year, and it often changes during the first three years. I personally went from being pretty set on Ortho -> pediatric ortho -> adolescent medicine -> pulmonology -> peds pulmonology -> peds cardiology -> pediatric general surgery ->endocrinology, and am currently back on pediatric cardiology. An open mind is a must.</p>
<p>isn't there also a career path that just involves graduate studies and then accredidation to have a career in sports med? you would not be a M.D. that way, but you could still do sports medicine (this may be for the "trainer" type of sports med, i'm not sure)</p>
<p>I do not think that you NEED to be an MD for sports medicine (obviously you dont have the same responsibilities for a doctor) I have seen masters programs that are for 'sports medicine'. sorry I can't help more, but that's all the info I know about sports medicine programs.</p>