Salary
Average Salary: $203,300
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $8,487,000
A sports physician gig doesn't come with a linear salary progression. In plain English, that means you don't progress up the career ladder, making a predictable amount of dough as you climb each rung. Yes, your salary is affected by the number of years you've worked in the sports medicine field. However, your pay also depends on who owns the parking lot where you park your Porsche.
In 2011, a sports medicine doc who focused on treating athletes' non-surgical musculoskeletal ailments grossed just north of $240,000 per year. The bottom ten percent of sports docs made slightly less than $120,000, and the top crew earned a whopping $375,000 or more annually (source).
Let's also pull out a few salary figures for orthopedic surgeons, since they also work on sports-related physical problems. However, keep in mind that ortho docs work on lots of other musculoskeletal ailments besides sports injuries. An orthopedic surgeon can pull down an average salary of almost $410,000 annually. The bottom ten percent make around $220,000, and the top ten percent rake in more than $700,000 per year (source). Wonder what the ortho docs are driving….