Take a free class in management communication from MIT's Sloan School of Management to get a jumpstart on the skills you'll need in this career.

Take an online class in management communication. 

Enter your location at the top of this page to find opportunities at health organizations near you. Being involved at any level will help you figure out if this area is something you're interested in!

Find a volunteer position in health and medicine.

Read up on the courses, requirements, and timelines for getting into medical school. Get prepared early and better your chances of acceptance!

Learn what you can do to prepare for medical school.

Empathy is an integral part of our human nature. It is a skill ingrained in us, but it can also be learned and improved upon. Explore ways to develop your empathy and be more successful in life.

Watch a TED Talk about empathy.

Choose a few of these stories about mystery medical cases and how they were solved. Does assessing symptoms and doing research to figure out diagnoses seem like something you'd like to do?

Explore hard-to-solve medical cases.

Dive into this overview of a popular organizational philosophy and get started on your own system to up your productivity and start getting things done!

Practice getting organized!

Read what 6 sports physicians would recommend to people interested in getting into sports medicine.

Read advice from Sports Physicians about their field.

Look for sports medicine centers in your area and contact them for volunteer/intern opportunities. Learn more about what a sports medicine physician does.

Volunteer or intern at a sports medicine center.

Get inspired by sports medicine pioneer, Pat Croce's, infectious energy and tenacity. 

Watch a motivational speech.

What quality do great leaders share? Watch a management pro tell stories that show leadership in action, then think about how you can enact this kind of leadership in your own life.

Watch a TED Talk about what makes a great leader.

Sports Medicine Physicians

Diagnose, treat, and help prevent injuries that occur during sporting events, athletic training, and physical activities.

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Second Interest High-Point

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

First Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Third Interest High-Point

Entrepreneur/Sports Team Executive/Author

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Physicians and Surgeons

Physicians and Surgeons, All Other

Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners

Diagnose or treat disorders of the musculoskeletal system.

Order and interpret the results of laboratory tests and diagnostic imaging procedures.

Advise against injured athletes returning to games or competition if resuming activity could lead to further injury.

Record athletes' medical care information and maintain medical records.

Record athletes' medical histories and perform physical examinations.

Examine and evaluate athletes prior to participation in sports activities to determine level of physical fitness or predisposition to injuries.

Coordinate sports care activities with other experts including specialty physicians and surgeons, athletic trainers, physical therapists, or coaches.

Provide education and counseling on illness and injury prevention.

Participate in continuing education activities to improve and maintain knowledge and skills.

Advise athletes, trainers, or coaches to alter or cease sports practices that are potentially harmful.

Inform coaches, trainers, or other interested parties regarding the medical conditions of athletes.

Examine, evaluate and treat athletes who have been injured or who have medical problems such as exercise-induced asthma.

Supervise the rehabilitation of injured athletes.

Refer athletes for specialized consultation, physical therapy, or diagnostic testing.

Prescribe medications for the treatment of athletic-related injuries.

Inform athletes about nutrition, hydration, dietary supplements, or uses and possible consequences of medication.

Develop and test procedures for dealing with emergencies during practices or competitions.

Attend games and competitions to provide evaluation and treatment of activity-related injuries or medical conditions.

Advise coaches, trainers, or physical therapists on the proper use of exercises and other therapeutic techniques and alert them to potentially dangerous practices.

Observe and evaluate athletes' mental well-being.

Select and prepare medical equipment or medications to be taken to athletic competition sites.

Conduct research in the prevention or treatment of injuries or medical conditions related to sports and exercise.

Prescribe orthotics, prosthetics, and adaptive equipment.

Evaluate and manage chronic pain conditions.

Develop and prescribe exercise programs such as off-season conditioning regimens.

Provide coaches and therapists with assistance in selecting and fitting protective equipment.

Advise athletes on how substances, such as herbal remedies, could affect drug testing results.

Adjustable crutches

Automated external defibrillators AED

Body fat analyzers

Bone densitometers

Cast boots

Cold therapy equipment

Custom orthotics

Desktop computers

Diagnostic ultrasound scanners

Digital spirometers

Digital x ray machines

Electrocardiography EKG machines

Exercise bikes

Fitness balls

Goniometers

Hand dynamometers

Heat therapy equipment

Inclinometers

Iontophoresis equipment

Knee braces

Laptop computers

Magnetic resonance imaging MRI equipment

Mechanical stethoscopes

Motion capture systems

Multipurpose electrotherapy units

Muscle stimulators

Neurological hammers

Orthopedic splints

Peak flow meters

Pulse oximeters

Resistance bands

Sonic therapy units

Stair climbers

Tablet computers

Therapeutic diathermy machines

Therapeutic parallel bars

Therapeutic treadmills

Therapeutic weight sets

Walking canes

Whirlpool tubs

3D motion analysis software

Allscripts PM

athenahealth athenaCollector

Automatic Data Processing AdvancedMD EHR

Benchmark Systems Benchmark Clinical EHR

Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR

CareCloud Central

Cerner PowerWorks Practice Management

eClinicalWorks Practice Management

Email software

Epic Practice Management

GalacTek ECLIPSE

GE Healthcare Centricity Practice Solution

Greenway Medical Technologies PrimeSUITE

HealthFusion MediTouch

IOS Health Systems Medios EHR

Kareo Practice Management

McKesson Practice Plus

Meditab IMS Orthopedics/Sports Medicine

Microsoft Word

Modernizing Medicine Practice Management

NextGen Healthcare NextGen Practice Management

OmniMD Sports Medicine EHR

PracticeSuite Complete Suite

Presagia Sports

simplifyMD

SpartaTrac

Vitera Healthcare Solutions Vitera Intergy

Web browser software

WRSHealth EMR

<p>The first stop for the Canadian team is Philadelphia to interview Pat Croce, former president of the 76ers basketball team. The team then heads to Washington DC, where interview Pat Schroeder, former congresswoman of Colorado and Kevin Klose, president and CEO of NPR.</p>

Philadelphia - Washington, D.C.

[MUSIC] We'll tell you who we are, because then you'll know where we're coming from. Our aim is to meet people like yourself and just have our eyes open a little wider and be inspired. I just here people's stories. So yeah I just graduated from McGill. I was studying philosophy and the humanities. And then I will probably go to law school. It's a little bit scary, but mostly exciting, like maybe a little bit of both. >> Cool, scary is good. I believe that life should be a bold and daring adventure and that's what you're on. >> That's what it is, yeah so. >> Too many people just say what are they looking forward to, dying? No yeah that's it, this is it. Yeah, everyday, slap your hand together and say okay it's gonna be a great day. >> I'm actually from California, I came to McGill to study music. I was studying opera pretty seriously, and. >> Let me hear some. >> Do it. >> Yeah go ahead. >> [MUSIC] I haven't warmed up. >> That's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful that's wonderful. What are you going to do with it? >> Well, I started in that world, and I decided that I loved it so much, but as I started studying it more technically, getting to the higher and higher ranks it just didn't seem as fun anymore. I feel like maybe that's not exactly. I need to do some soul searching and that may not be- >> Well, your doing it. With what I call a Vision Quest. >> Yeah. >> Every leader needs a dream or a vision for anyone to follow their vision. Even yourself to follow that vision. And this, what you're doing right now, Roadtrip Nation, is a vision quest. >> Right. >> You go and ask the questions. What would I like to do if I knew I couldn't fail? What am I passionate about? What if? That's what's so cool about what you're doing. Man, that's great. >> So my name's Coby. I have one more year left. I'm going into my senior year. I sorta see people and try to frame myself in their positions. Say, is that possible? So and I realized that's not a good thing because I should be creating my own road. >> That's not true. No, that's not true. >> Not true? >> No. No. What happens is you will take your own road. Deviating from someone else's input. But no, you can follow a path already blazed which makes it easier. And then all of a sudden, cut off. You don't have to start down here and cut off. That makes it really rough. The learning curve's rougher. The weeds are higher. I mean, the forest is thicker. I'd rather let someone else blaze a trail and then all of a sudden [SOUND]. >> Tell us where you grew up. Tell us, where were you- >> I grew up, I was born in North Philadelphia, in a row home in North Philadelphia, just about two blocks from Connie Mack Stadium, where the Phillies played at the time. My father was an usher there. But he was also a milkman and a factory worker and a hard, hardworking Italian. And he drilled that work ethic into me as a very young kid. From growing up I had the discipline and the organization from my dad. And the dream genes from my mom, the positive attitude. Pat, you can do that. Yeah, that's [INAUDIBLE]. Cuz I believe I can do anything. I'm a big believer that if she can do it or you can do it, then I can do it. There's only these secrets that you have to do and one of them is you gotta do. You gotta take action. There's a Japanese proverb that I've always liked. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. I may have been a dreamer but I was doer as well. And so, I went to physical therapy school. I went really to college, really to play football. I always shot for the top, that was the only reason. I was going to play football to be a Philadelphia Eagle, professional football player. I wasn't fast enough. So, I took a year off college. I was a store detective. I was a bouncer. I was a laborer for a contract mason. I was, you name it, I did everything, any kind of hard work. It didn't matter. I could always make money. I never had a problem making money, cuz I started being a paperboy when I was 11, going door-to-door every day. So that work ethic was always drown into me. And I was doing volunteer in a hospital. My mom was a nurse and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know. I was on a kind of personal vision quest. But I loved health, I loved fitness. I was always a fitness fanatic. I like sports. What can I do and she exposed me to medicine in the physical therapy world were people are hurt. Blown out knees, bad back, sprained ankles and the people's whole attitude was down because they had some pain and injury. I understood that people got hurt, but it didn't have to be athletes but I could treat you like athletes. And it wasn't just a physical injury, It was working their mind as well. I opened the first sports medicine center in the United States, in a hospital setting, in 79. I opened my first free-standing center in 83, 83-84. And 10 years later I had 40 of them. Being a paperboy and growing up, some of those philosophies and principles I used as a paperboy. From putting the paper in a plastic bag or putting the paper inside the door, was customer service driven, so that the tips would be better. So but that came all the way, all the way till now. >> I wanna know what you were scared of when you were around age. >> I guess early on it would be fear of failure. It was never fear of embarrassment. I could easily do that. Fear of rejection. If you don't ask, the answer's always no. I would ask anything. Okay, so I get a no? So what. It doesn't bother me. And that's one of the reasons I got the Sixers cuz I asked the former owner 50 times. Persistence. I like to paralyze resistance with persistence. I just keep on coming. But I would say failure. Probably in the early steps you wouldn't do something. You'd take a stutter-step. What if I fail? Cuz fear can paralyze you. >> I'm really curious to know who you were sort of before you developed your philosophy. Like it's very clear that you have very defined ideas about goal setting and various ways to motivate yourself. But where did it stem from? >> I must have been interviewed a million times. I've never been asked that. Who was I before I developed these strategies? And I should tell you first of all that I developed them in the sense where I'm a sponge, I observe, I challenge, I err, I react, I create but I'm always trying to be better. There's one word in the Japanese language that means an entire philosophy called Kaizen, continuous improvement. And that's always been my philosophy is continuous improvement. Because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. You know most people, oh, I wish. And they dream, and they. But they don't take that vision and break it down into time sensitive goals. And take those goals and break 'em down into task and take each task and break it down into action steps and then they don't take the first step, the action one. Whether it's picking up a phone or knocking on a door or asking the question. They don't do that. And that's the whole key. You gotta do something, but most people I will, I'll get to it. But let me tell you one thing, that my life proves that your IQ is not nearly as important as your, I will. Because there's a limit about of knowledge you can accumulate, but there's no limit, none what so ever, to your dreams and determination, none. You just have to want it, there's the will and the soul. How really bad do you wanna be the best, so you go on and commit to your will, if not, okay take a step back. Someone else will step in and you'll be following someone else's will. How bad do you want it? That's it. How bad do you want it? So to answer your question, I don't really know who I was before other than someone who want to strive to be the best. 

Interview

>> I wanna know what you were scared of when you were around our age? >> I guess early on it would be fear of failure. It was never fear of embarrassment. I could leastly do that. Fear of rejection. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. I would ask anything. Okay? So, I get no. So what? It doesn't bother me. And that's one of the reasons I got the cuz I asked the former owner 50 times. I like to paralyze resistance with persistence. I just keep on coming. But I would say failure. Probably, in the early steps you wouldn't do something. You take a stutter step, what if I fail? Cuz fear can paralyze you. 

Failure

What If I Fail?

So my name's Coby. I have one more year left. I'm going into my senior year. I sort of see people and try to frame myself in their position and say, is that possible? So, and I realize that's not a good thing because I should be creating my own road. >> That's not true. No, that's not true. >> Not true? >> No, no. What happens is, you will take your own road deviating from someone else's input, but no. You can follow a path already blazed, which makes it easier then all of a sudden cut off. You don't have to start down here and cut off, that makes it really rough. The learning curve's rougher, the weeds are higher. I mean the forest is thicker. I'd rather let someone else blaze a trail and then all of a sudden [SOUND]. 

Individualism

Creating Your Own Road

Tell us where you grew up. Tell us where >> I grew up. I was born in North Philadelphia in a row home in North Philadelphia. Just about two blocks from Connie Mack Stadium where the Phillies played at the time. My father was an usher there. But he was also a milk man and a factory worker and a hard, hard working Italian. And he drove that work ethic into me as a very young kid. From growing up I had the discipline and the organization from my dad and the dream genes from my mom. The positive attitude. Pat, you can do that. Yeah, that's cool, cuz I believe I can do anything. I'm a big believer that if she can do it, or you can do it, then I can do it. There's only these secrets that you have to do. And one of them, is you gotta do, you gotta take action. There's a Japanese proverb that I've always liked. Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. I may have been a dreamer but I was a doer as well. And so I went to physical therapy school. I went really to college to become a, really to play football. I always shot for the top. That was the only reason. I was going to play football to be a Philadelphia Eagle professional football player. I wasn't fast enough, so I took a year off from college and I was store detective, and I was a bouncer, and I was a labor for contract Mason. You name it, I did everything, any kind of hard work job. Didn't matter. I could always make money. I never had a problem making money. As I started being a paper boy when I was 11, so that going door to door everyday so that work ethic was always ground into me. And I used to volunteer in a hospital, my mom was a nurse in there, I didn't know what I wanted do. I didn't know. I was a kind of personal vision quest. But I loved health, I loved fitness, I was always a fitness fanatic I like sports. What can I do? And then she exposed me to medicine in a physical therapy world, where people were hurt. Blown out knees, bad backs, sprained ankles, I mean people's whole attitude was down because they had some pain and injury. I understood that people got hurt, but it didn't have to be athletes, but I could treat you like athletes. And it wasn't just a physical injury, it was working their mind as well. I opened the first center, I opened the first sports medicine center in the United States in a hospital setting in 79. I opened my first free standing center in 83, 83-84 and 10 years later I had 40 of them. 

Family

Hard Work

Gotta Take Action

Being a paper boy and growing up, some of those philosophies and principles I used as a paper boy from putting the paper in a plastic bag or putting the paper inside the door was customer service driven so that the tips would be better. But that came all the way till now 

Values

Customer Service Driven

I'm really curious to know who you were sort of before you developed your philosophy. Like, it's very clear that you have very defined ideas about goal setting and various ways to motivate yourself, but where did that stem from? >> I must have been interviewed a million times. I've never been asked that. Who was I before I developed these strategies? And I should tell you first, Laura, that I've developed them in the sense where I'm a sponge. I observe, I challenge, I err, I react, I create, but I'm always trying to be better. There's one word in the Japanese language that means an entire philosophy, called kaizen, continuous improvement. And that's always been my philosophy, is continuous improvement. Because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. And most people, I wish and they dream, but they don't take that vision and break it down into time sensitive goals. And take those goals and break them down into tasks. And take each task and break it down into action steps and then they don't take the first step the action was. It's picking up a phone, or knocking on a door or asking the question. They don't do that and that's the whole key is you gotta do something. But most people think, I will, I'll get to it. But let me tell you one thing that my life proves is that your IQ is not nearly as important as your I will. Cuz there's a limit to the amount of knowledge you can accumulate, but there's no limit, none whatsoever, to your dreams and your determination, none. You just gotta want it cuz the will of the soul, how really bad do you want to be the best, are you gonna commit to your will? If not, okay, take a step back, someone else will step in and you'll be following someone else's will, how bad do you want it? That's it. How bad do you want it? So to answer your question, I don't really know who I was before other than someone who wanted to strive to be the best. 

Goals

Continuous Improvement

And so I went to physical therapy school. I went really to college to become...really to play football. I always shot for the top. That was the only reason. I was gonna play football to be a Philadelphia Eagle. A professional football player. I wasn't fast enough. So I took a year off from college, and I was a store detective, and I was a bouncer, and I was a laborer for a contract mason. I was--you name it, I did everything. Any kind of hard work job, it didn't matter. I could always make money. I never had a problem making money. I was doing volunteer in a hospital. My mom was a nurse. And I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know. I was on a kind of personal vision quest. But I loved health, I loved fitness. I was always a fitness fanatic. I like sports. What can I do? And then she exposed me to medicine in a physical therapy world where people were hurt. Opened the first sports medicine center in the United States in a hospital setting in '79. And ten years later, I had 40 of 'em. And that's the whole key of "Gotta do something." But most people: "I will. "I'll get to it." But let me tell you one thing that my life proves is that your IQ is not nearly as important as your "I will." 

Sports Medicine Physicians

Overview

Career

Roadtrip Nation Leaders in This Career

What Sports Medicine Physicians Do

Other Job Titles Sports Medicine Physicians May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Sports Medicine Physicians

Overview

Career

Roadtrip Nation Leaders in This Career

What Sports Medicine Physicians Do

Other Job Titles Sports Medicine Physicians May Have

Tasks & Responsibilities May Include

Education

Level of Education Attained by Sports Medicine Physicians

Majors Related to Career