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 2,275 practicing sports medicine doctors. Broken out by state, sports medicine doctor density in Alabama is 31, in Alaska is 9, in Arizona is 58, in Arkansas is 8, in California is 266, in Colorado is 78, in Connecticut is 23, in Delaware is 12, in District of Columbia is 6, in Florida is 115, in Georgia is 67, in Hawaii is 14, in Idaho is 20, in Illinois is 98, in Indiana is 70, in Iowa is 20, in Kansas is 29, in Kentucky is 27, in Louisiana is 25, in Maine is 9, in Maryland is 31, in Massachusetts is 47, in Michigan is 83, in Minnesota is 65, in Mississippi is 14, in Missouri is 32, in Montana is 20, in Nebraska is 14, in Nevada is 9, in New Hampshire is 11, in New Jersey is 99, in New Mexico is 14, in New York is 113, in North Carolina is 75, in North Dakota is 9, in Ohio is 133, in Oklahoma is 34, in Oregon is 26, in Pennsylvania is 148, in Rhode Island is 7, in South Carolina is 44, in South Dakota is 10, in Tennessee is 45, in Texas is 154, in Utah is 39, in Vermont is 12, in Virginia is 61, in Washington is 88, in West Virginia is 14, in Wisconsin is 98, and in Wyoming is 5.