You tweak your low back lifting something you have lifted a hundred times before. It is not an emergency, your primary care appointment is three weeks out, and an orthopedic surgeon feels like an odd first call for something you are fairly sure is a muscle. So who are you supposed to see?
There is an answer to that question, and most people have never heard of it. Primary care sports medicine is a recognized subspecialty built around exactly this gap: musculoskeletal problems that need real expertise but do not need an operating room.
The short version
A primary care sports medicine physician is a doctor who completed a primary care residency, most often family medicine, and then did additional fellowship training focused on musculoskeletal and sports medicine.
The result is a physician who can do both halves of the job: take care of your blood pressure, your cholesterol, and your annual physical, and also evaluate your shoulder with an exam, an ultrasound probe, and a treatment plan. Same doctor, same chart, same relationship.
Why the specialty exists at all
Most musculoskeletal complaints are managed without surgery. Tendon pain, overuse injuries, strains, bursitis, back pain, movement problems, concussion: these are usually treated with assessment, load management, rehabilitation, time, and sometimes an injection.
That work is a genuine clinical skill. It takes somebody who sees a lot of it to tell an Achilles problem that will settle with a loading program from one that needs imaging, or to recognize that the knee pain is actually coming from the hip.
What these physicians actually treat
Broader than the name suggests. A typical week includes:
- Overuse and tendon problems: runner knee, plantar fasciitis, Achilles pain, tennis and golfer elbow, rotator cuff irritation
- Acute injuries: sprains, strains, suspected ligament and meniscus injuries, and deciding what needs advanced imaging
- Concussion: diagnosis, recovery, and graded return to learning and sport
- Joint pain and arthritis managed without an operation, including injections
- Back and neck pain, which is one of the most common reasons anyone sees a doctor
- Sports physicals and pre-participation exams
- Return to activity decisions after injury or illness
- The medical side of being active: exercise with a chronic condition, training load, nutrition, bone health, sleep
Many also perform in-office diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided injections, which lets a lot of questions get answered during the visit rather than across three appointments. The sports medicine page lists what Ridgeview evaluates.
You do not have to be an athlete
The name is the specialty biggest obstacle. Sports medicine is really musculoskeletal and activity medicine, and the patients reflect that: the 55-year-old whose shoulder has stopped letting them reach a high shelf, the nurse with foot pain from twelve-hour shifts, the new parent whose back went out lifting a car seat, the hiker who wants to get up a fourteener without their knee complaining.
If your body is stopping you from doing something you want to do, that is the right reason to go.
How it fits with orthopedic surgery
These are complementary roles, not competing ones. Orthopedic surgeons are the right physicians for problems that need surgical repair or reconstruction, and they are indispensable when that is the situation.
A primary care sports medicine physician is often a sensible place to start because the first job is diagnosis: working out what is wrong, trying what is reasonable without an operation, and referring promptly to a surgical colleague when the problem is surgical. A clear exam, the right imaging, and a documented course of treatment also make that referral more useful when it happens. We walked through this in more detail in who to see first and when a referral makes sense.
Why it pairs well with direct primary care
Musculoskeletal problems are time-hungry. An unhurried exam, a conversation about how you actually train or work, a demonstration of the exercises, and a plan to adjust at follow-up are hard to compress into a short appointment.
In a membership model there is room for that. At Ridgeview, sports medicine consultations are included in every primary care membership, and standalone sports medicine visits are open to anyone, even if your primary care is elsewhere. Prices for both are published on the sports medicine pricing page. Founding membership rates are $99 a month for an individual and $179 a month for two adults; standard rates are $129 and $199, with children up to age 26 at $39 a month each. A direct primary care membership is not health insurance.
Who you would be seeing at Ridgeview
Dr. Christopher Kroner, MD MPH, is a family practice and sports medicine physician and has been practicing since 2013. He spent twelve years in full-time academic practice teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, and his sports medicine experience ranges from professional and Olympic athletes to high school sidelines.
Practically, that means the person looking at your shoulder is the same person who knows your medications and your history. More about his background is on the meet the doctor page.
When not to wait for an appointment
Go to urgent care or an emergency department now for an obviously deformed limb, an injury you cannot bear weight on at all, a joint that is hot, red, and swollen with fever, numbness or a cold pale limb below an injury, a head injury with vomiting or worsening confusion, or back pain with new bowel or bladder trouble or leg weakness.
For everything else that hurts, lingers, or limits you, an evaluation by a physician beats another month of waiting it out.
Start with a conversation
Book a free 30-minute meet and greet with Dr. Kroner on the contact page, or call 720-807-9961. Bring the injury, any imaging you already have, and whatever you have been told so far.
Ridgeview Direct Care is at 4045 Wadsworth Blvd #300, Wheat Ridge, CO 80033, open Monday through Friday, serving Arvada, Lakewood, Golden, Edgewater, and west Denver.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for evaluation by a physician. Please see our medical disclaimer.