Sports Medicine (Orthopaedic Surgery) Physician: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

An orthopaedic surgeon trained in sports medicine provides appropriate care for all structures of the musculoskeletal system directly affected by participation in sporting activity. This specialist is proficient in areas including conditioning, training and fitness, athletic performance and the impact of dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and nutrition on performance and health, coordination of care within the team setting utilizing other health care professionals, field evaluation and management, soft tissue biomechanics and injury healing and repair. Knowledge and understanding of the principles and techniques of rehabilitation, athletic equipment and orthotic devices enables the specialist to prevent and manage athletic injuries.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For this specialty, 503 records, or 13.3%, are flagged as sole proprietors in NPPES. This is a self-reported NPPES field and an imperfect proxy for private practice: it does not by itself establish whether a physician owns a practice, works independently, or is employed by a group or health system.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• - NPI records measure provider records, not patient volume, clinical full-time equivalents, or visits.
• - Counts depend on primary taxonomy assignments and NPPES enumeration and update timing.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions