Sports medicine

Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine offers a four-week elective rotation in sports medicine with Geisinger's Department of Orthopaedics in Danville, Pa. 

Our department sees more than 10,000 office visits per year and performs more than 6,000 surgical procedures annually. We provide comprehensive orthopaedic care that includes operative and non-operative management of orthopaedic problems, athletic training services, rehabilitation services and radiological services.

You will be integrated into our services by becoming active in the daily care of our patients. You’ll learn to examine common orthopaedic sports-related injuries, review appropriate radiographic studies, formulate treatment plans and assist the attending and resident physicians in caring for patients. Additional opportunities include experience in the rehabilitation facility working with physical therapists in the rehabilitation of sports-related injuries and on-the-field experience with physicians covering local high school and collegiate sporting events. You’re expected to participate in surgical procedures and to prepare and present a lecture on sports medicine–related topic.

There are 10 certified athletic trainers in our program. 

Check out Geisinger’s sports medicine fellowships at our Central and Northeast campuses.

Goals and objectives

The overall educational goal is for you to gain experience in the subspecialty of sports medicine and orthopaedics. You’ll work directly with sports medicine fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeons and primary care specialists, sports medicine physician assistants, physical therapists and athletic trainers. The effective delivery of sports medical care relies on the disciplines of orthopaedic surgery, physical therapy and athletic training working together as a cohesive unit. 

Specific educational goals include:

• Knowledge acquisition of musculoskeletal system anatomy as it pertains to orthopaedic sports-related injuries, including fundamental knowledge of head, neck and spine injuries; injuries to the shoulder, elbow and hand; and injuries to the hip, knee and foot/ankle
• The ability to evaluate injured patients and formulate a treatment plan
• The ability to review related radiologic studies such as X-ray, MRI and CT scans of the musculoskeletal system
• Knowledge acquisition of the non-operative management of sports-related injuries in relation to prescription of appropriate physical therapy and athletic training services
• Understanding the fundamentals of surgical management of common sports-related injuries to the shoulder, knee, elbow, hand, foot and ankle
• Development of fundamental knowledge about common ethical issues in the management of young athletes and their injuries