Traevonn Walton

Career Project
October 4th 2017

The career i have chose is to be a sport and exercise medicine doctor (SEM) or
also called a sports physician. I would be specialized in taking care and administering
treatment to athletes and other physically active people such as teens in contact sports
with concussions or ACL sprains or even active adults with ankle sprains or shin splints.
To become a sports physician there is about 7 years needed including residency
and fellowship for medical school. There is also about 1 year to be specialized in sports
and exercise medicine. The two collages i had chose where American College of Sports
Medicine (ACSM) and American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM). I had
chose ACSM was because it is the largest sports medicine and exercise science
organization in the world. Then i chose AMSSM due to majority of the members end up
or specialize in serving or helping athletes in NCAA, NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS, the
NHL and even olympic teams.
To be a sports physician you must be able to process and demonstrate great
physical and mental health, communication skills, and a good amount stamina to be
able to perform any therapy related treatments and/or exercises with any kind of person
from an short obese teen or a tall normal sized adult. Being a sports physician you must
be able to demonstrate empathy, compassion, and excellent problem solving skills. For
example, most sport trainers will be dealing with all different type of people from obese,
skinny or even short and tall; along with people that may even have a disability such as
down syndrome, being blind, and/or even cerebral palsy which may affect the way or
how you may attempt to help or work with a patent/athlete.
Two schools that i thought that i would choose and that i would enjoy to have
some sort of interest in would be (UCD) or the University of Colorado Denver, and
(CMU) or Colorado Mesa University.
First i had chose the University of Denver Colorado was my love for the
mountains and being in Denver would bring me even closer and give me the
opportunities to camp and even be somewhat close to family and experience new or
different things in the area. This schools is also ranked number 15 our of 2017 of
athletic training in the program in the united states, thus giving it the opportunity or the
ability to be better and have advancing in the scientific foundation and practises. The
tuition and fees for UCD for a resident would cost around $7,536 per year after COF, for
a non-resident it would be about $23,232 per year and then more if you are an
undergrad.
Lastly out of the two schools i decided to go with for being a sports
physician/sports trainer was the Colorado Mesa University. I chose this school as ine of
the schools i may be interested in for collage was due to it being close to family, having
nice surroundings, it's a small town, and gives you more choices on what kind of sports
training or sports related reserce such as being a physical education teacher with k-12
or to even be an occupational therapist. Tuition and fees to go to Colorado Mesa
Univeristy would be about $8,727 after COF, $8,720-$13,080 for residence and meal
planning, about $8,792 for books and any other supplies to estimate a full cost of about
$19,064-$23,622 all together.
Sports medicine physicians or doctors of osteopathy deal with sports related
injuries such and concussions, shin splints or even ACL tears. Medical doctors would
diagnose, treat, prescribe and suggest the procedure or what will need to be put in
place to cut the time of being out of a sport or just being in pain. Sports physicians
would mostly focus on the patient's and/or athlete's musculoskeletal system to be able
to help any patient with any injury from a young teen with a concussion from football or
an elderly woman that strained or tore her ACL from walking or falling down the stairs a
wrong way for example. The would be able to work with any kind of athlete or just any
active person that is usually prone get any kind of injury from just playing sports,
exercising or just from being active in any way.
Being a sports medicine physician would pay about $115.86 an hour with a
yearly salary of around $241,000. I would be perfectly fine with working in a big city or
even a small town due to them both having great benefits. I wouldn't mind working in a
small town or city because i would be able to easily remember most patients and be
able to remember each athlete or patient and what they are usually like and what kind of
imagery they usually get or help that they need. I would also be fine with working in a
bigger town or city that way i would be able to meet new people and be able to
experience new injuries and problems that may come up that wouldn't in a smaller town
or city just by the way it's ran or the rules that the sports may have or just by the
different activities people due in the area.
Some injuries or problems patients may have that i would deal with would be
concussions, where the brain is shook or jolted in a certain way to cause it to damage it
self along with nerves in the brain that could cause seizures, mental/physical disabilities
and or even death. Another kind of injury that some people could have that i would treat
would be ACL tears or pulls; which is when the knee is moved or twisted in a way that it
tears the ligament behind it or pulls it that will cause much pain and could take many
months to recover causing the patient to be in a brace for many weeks at a time. Lastly
through the most common injuries that i have learned about or see mostly of would be a
simple but painful would be an ankle sprain, shin splints, and the rolling of the ankle.
These all mostly come from sports or physically active people that do a lot of running in
many different conditions or just turn there ankle wrong when doing common everyday
chores.
In the end, being a sports physician takes time, compassion for what you love,
and a lot of heart and understanding for all the new things that people may teach you or
that you will learn on the way. Also about the colleges around me that i feel interested in
at the moment that would support me in my pursuit in being a sports medicine physician
and/or sports therapist.