Redefining ‘Fit to Practice’
writePost(); By GINA KOLATA

Published: January 3, 2008

THE problem with advising very active people to find doctors who are like them is that there may be no way to know whether a doctor is an athlete without calling and asking. But there are at least two professional organizations that try to help.

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Dr. William Roberts of the University of Minnesota suggests the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, an organization he belongs to. Its members, he said, tend to be athletic and its Web site, amssm.org, has a link for finding doctors.

Dr. Paul Thompson of Hartford Hospital notes that a group he belongs to, the American Medical Athletic Association, a division of the American Running Association, provides referrals to doctors who tend to be runners. The runners’ association Web site, www.americanrunning.org, has a link for professional referral.

New York Road Runners also has a list of athlete-doctors in the “membership benefits” section on its site, www.nyrr.org/about/membership/benefits/2007/sports_medicine.asp

But Dr. Thompson cautions against assuming that doctors who advertise a specialty in sports medicine are athletic themselves. It’s not necessarily true.