Nursing is one of the top career paths to follow if you’re passionate about helping people achieve better overall health. However, if you feel squeamish about blood and other bodily fluids, you don’t have to let those factors prevent you from pursuing a nursing career. Instead, consider becoming a fitness nurse, which exposes you to less blood and to more people who want to incorporate exercise and physical fitness into their lives.
Read on to learn more about what a fitness nurse does and discover the steps you can take to land this fulfilling career.
What Is a Fitness Nurse?
A fitness nurse specializes in helping patients manage and improve their overall health or a specific health condition using exercise and physical activity. But, unlike a fitness trainer at a gym, you receive a medical education. This gives you the experience and credentials to create customized fitness plans for patients that can specifically help them recover from a health condition. As a fitness nurse, you may also work with healthy people who simply want to reduce their risk of illness and disease or become the healthiest versions of themselves.
Fitness nursing is sometimes also called sports medicine nursing. Sports medicine nurses may earn as much as $102,000 per year.
Where Do Fitness Nurses Work?
Becoming a fitness nurse gives you the opportunity to work in a variety of different settings. It’s common to work at a hospital, clinic, or dedicated rehabilitation center.
Other work settings for fitness nurses include:
- Gyms and fitness clubs
- Radiology centers
- Professional sports centers
- Sporting competitions
- Universities and colleges
- Nursing homes and residential care facilities
- Private nursing practices
Who Can You Help as a Fitness Nurse?
The types of patients you work with as a fitness nurse depend on your work setting. For example, if you work at a professional sports center, many of your patients may be professional athletes who are recovering from injuries sustained during games or practice.
Groups of patients who may benefit from fitness nursing include:
- Professional athletes who have been injured or who want to improve their athletic performance
- Patients in recovery from heart-related conditions, such as heart attacks or strokes
- Aging adults in long-term care facilities or those who have age-related conditions, such as osteoporosis or arthritis
- Patients in need of physical therapy after experiencing an injury or receiving a specific diagnosis
- People who want to improve their nutrition, fitness, and general overall health
- People who want more energy
- People who want to lose excess weight
- People who want to reduce their risk of illness and disease
Steps to Becoming a Fitness Nurse
Fitness nursing is a nursing subspecialty. In general, you must earn a nursing degree, take the exam to become a licensed nurse, and then spend time working in a related field to gain the necessary experience.
First, decide whether you want to become a licensed practical nurse (LPN) or registered nurse (RN). Both roles are similar in the ways you assist doctors and other medical professionals in caring for patients. However, becoming an RN gives you the credentials and experience to perform extra duties, such as prescribing or administering certain types of medications. Additionally, RNs usually earn higher salaries than LPNs and can open their own practices without as many limitations.
Next, you can start working toward earning your nursing degree. If you decide to become an LPN, you need an associate degree to become a fitness nurse, while a bachelor’s degree is required to become an RN. Some specialty courses you may take to become a fitness nurse include exercise physiology, exercise science, biochemical nutrition, and sports management.
After earning your nursing degree, you must take the NCLEX-PN (for LPNs) or NCLEX-RN (for RNs) exam to become eligible for an active nursing license. After you pass the NCLEX, you can obtain a nursing license to practice in your state.
Lastly, you must gain relevant experience to become a fitness nurse. This may involve working alongside fitness nurses in rehab centers and professional sports centers or working in entry-level positions at facilities that employ fitness nurses.
Nursing can be an extremely rewarding and fulfilling career, regardless of the subspecialty you pursue. You may be an ideal candidate for fitness nursing if you enjoy exercising and staying active and you want to share the benefits of physical activity with others.
Resource Links
- “What Is Fitness Nursing?” via University of Texas at Arlington