Also called: Team Physician, Primary Care Sports Medicine Doctor
A doctor who diagnoses and treats sports injuries and helps athletes stay healthy, often serving as a team doctor.
They see injured athletes in clinic, read MRIs, give injections, and decide when a player is safe to return. On weekends they stand on the sidelines at games, ready for concussions and injuries. Many care for everyday active people too.
Estimate based on BLS physicians, all other, and physician compensation surveys.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 11 years after high school. Medical degree (MD/DO), residency in family or emergency medicine, plus a sports medicine fellowship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Kinesiology, Pre-Med.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). Physician demand grows about as fast as average.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps read X-rays and MRIs; exams on the sideline, diagnosis and return-to-play judgment stay human.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Anatomy and physiology.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1229.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.