Sports medicine is the field of medicine that treats sports-related injuries and many other issues regarding those involved in sports. A sports medicine physician works with athletes to prevent injury and illness, and to improve health and fitness. This specialist promotes the prevention of injury, and is knowledgeable in cardiology, orthopedics, exercise physiology, nutrition, psychology, emergency medicine, and other fields.

Physicians in this specialty treat patients suffering from numerous diseases and illnesses, but some of the most common are spinal stenosis, spinal injury, spinal infection, scoliosis, tendonitis, spondylolisthesis, spinal discectomy, arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis of the hip, spinal deformity, spinal cord tumors, herniated disc, arthritis of the shoulder, tendinitis of the wrist, concussion, frozen shoulder, lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), bunions, and torn acl.

Once properly diagnosed, practitioners can perform numerous procedures on patients including cartilage transplant, back / spine surgery , hand surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement, disc disease / surgery, limb lengthening, invasive disc surgery, hip surgery, shoulder surgery, kyphosis surgery, knee surgery, joint surgery, and total shoulder replacement.

To diagnose patients with possible illnesses and diseases, specialists will often perform one of many tests including arthroscopy, x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging (mri), musculoskeletal examination, physicial examination, and cardiac examination.

Doctor density varies by specialty and location. The United States has 5,355 practicing sports medicine doctors. Broken out by state, sports medicine doctor density in Alabama is 73, in Alaska is 10, in Arizona is 121, in Arkansas is 23, in California is 675, in Colorado is 143, in Connecticut is 80, in Delaware is 23, in District of Columbia is 17, in Florida is 340, in Georgia is 183, in Hawaii is 37, in Idaho is 44, in Illinois is 179, in Indiana is 122, in Iowa is 41, in Kansas is 54, in Kentucky is 78, in Louisiana is 52, in Maine is 31, in Maryland is 110, in Massachusetts is 130, in Michigan is 155, in Minnesota is 116, in Mississippi is 39, in Missouri is 81, in Montana is 39, in Nebraska is 51, in Nevada is 32, in New Hampshire is 33, in New Jersey is 205, in New Mexico is 41, in New York is 330, in North Carolina is 186, in North Dakota is 14, in Ohio is 263, in Oklahoma is 72, in Oregon is 74, in Pennsylvania is 235, in Rhode Island is 27, in South Carolina is 118, in South Dakota is 17, in Tennessee is 103, in Texas is 314, in Utah is 55, in Vermont is 25, in Virginia is 147, in Washington is 128, in West Virginia is 27, in Wisconsin is 110, and in Wyoming is 9.