Will AI replace Sports Medicine Physicians?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
45/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 72% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 59% of the work
What the job involves
Diagnose, treat, and help prevent injuries that occur during sporting events, athletic training, and physical activities.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(16)
- Order and interpret the results of laboratory tests and diagnostic imaging procedures.
- Record athletes' medical histories, and perform physical examinations.
- Refer athletes for specialized consultation, physical therapy, or diagnostic testing.
- 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.
and 11 more
Out of reach(11)
- Diagnose or treat disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
- Provide education and counseling on illness and injury prevention.
- Examine, evaluate and treat athletes who have been injured or who have medical problems such as exercise-induced asthma.
- Examine and evaluate athletes prior to participation in sports activities to determine level of physical fitness or predisposition to injuries.
- Prescribe medications for the treatment of athletic-related injuries.
and 6 more
Also called
Athletic Team Physician · MD (Medical Doctor) · Nonsurgical Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician · Orthopedic Team Physician · Pediatric Sports Medicine Physician · Physician · Sports Medicine Medical Doctor (Sports Medicine MD) · Sports Medicine Primary Care Physician
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics