Sports medicine once consisted of a few select doctors working for top
athletes. Now, it is an everyday medical practice. It's led to improvements
in office furniture design and helped heart attack victims recover. It guides
people coping with broken bones and disconnected joints to speedy recovery.
"If you're a worker who has an injury, people know what to do. Some
of what we've learned from athletes to get them back to competition faster
now helps the rest of the population," says Dr. Jo Hannafin, orthopedic director
of the Women's Sports Medicine Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery.
"Studies of muscle movement also have guided designers of office furniture
and equipment to reduce injury risk from repetitive motion," adds Hannafin.
Today's sports doctor works in a variety of areas -- from athletic
teams to research. Regardless of the specialty, it's anything but your
usual 9-to-5 job. You may teach a class on sports medicine one day, examine
several patients in your private practice another and fly off with the team
for a hockey game the next.
Derek Mackesy is a sports doctor and a consultant to the International
Ice Hockey Federation. Mackesy says the job is a good fit for cool-under-pressure
types. "It's tough sometimes, because it's do-whatever-it-takes-to-win-the-game.
But you have to think about what's in the best interest of the athlete.
You have to be good with people and understand the pressures of the sport."
The field has expanded beyond athletes and their injuries. The boom in
recreational sports and physical fitness has broadened the horizon of sports
medicine beyond high school, college and professional athletics. Sports medicine
clinics, fitness centers and health clubs have helped increase the demand
for physicians.
"It's basically the realm of exercise," says Robert Otto of the Sports
Medicine College. "Most people in the field are exploring how the human body
functions in motion -- and that's a wide open area." Otto points to the
development of biomechanics, sports psychology and exercise physiology --
all specialties that barely existed 40 years ago, but now are familiar to
most people.
The outlook for career opportunities in sports medicine continues to be
promising, says Otto. While there's an oversupply of orthopedic surgeons
being trained in sports medicine, the field has many layers to it.
"My advice to someone interested in sports medicine as a career is to find
a mentor. You can also spend some time in a physical therapy facility or look
into opportunities as an athletic trainer. There are a lot of opportunities
in those areas."
What hasn't been easy for the Sports Medicine College is gaining acceptance
by mainstream medicine. "Sports doc is still a term of derision by some doctors,
although that, too, is changing," says Otto.
"Many physicians are strong advocates of sports medicine. And there are
many who are not. But I think more and more, they recognize the value and
importance of exercise. They've seen the impact in their cardiac and
pulmonary rehab programs. They're realizing there must be something to
it."
Mackesy recommends anyone interested in sports medicine start as an assistant
for your high school sports teams, and then learn as much as you can from
sports doctors in your city. "There's a lot of satisfaction in correctly
diagnosing the problem, treating it and preventing it from happening in the
future."
For Hannafin, this is an exciting time to be in sports medicine. "In the
next five to 10 years, we'll learn more about the effects of physical
activity on the risk of developing progressive diseases. We'll learn
more about the effects of changes in exercise and fitness patterns, together
with changes in other lifestyles and their roles in [the] prevention or delay
of recurrent or extended disease."
Others do it because they love it. "I found out what I wanted to do in
life: be involved in sports medicine," says Otto. "My wife often tells me
I'm blessed. So many people don't have jobs they enjoy. I truly
have a job I love."