Athletic Training

Athletic Training and Injuries in Professional Sports
Athletic training is a career that can only be practiced by athletic trainers. This is because all jobs in the athletic field play a specific part and a different role in athletics (Albohm, 2009). Another reason why athletic training is only practiced by athletic trainers is because many people confuse physical therapists and with athletic trainers. The difference is that physical therapists are therapist who treats injuries or dysfunctions with exercises and other physical treatments of the disorder. An athletic trainer is a certified health care professional who practices in the field of medical athletic training. In the field of athletic training, the main goal is to prevent, diagnose, and treat injuries and illnesses of any kind dealing with sports. Athletic trainers work with people of all ages and all skill levels, from young children to soldiers and professional athletes. The reason why athletic trainers work with people of different backgrounds, is because they work in many different job settings. According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association these job settings may consist of working in colleges and universities, hospitals and clinics, occupational, military, performing arts, physician extender, professional sports, public safety, and secondary schools. But some of main job settings that they work in are college universities, hospitals, physician extenders, professional sports, secondary schools, and the military. As the career of athletic training advanced into a medical profession, many job settings have required athletic trainers to be a part of their programs and be a major service for care and assistance (Albohm, 2009). Athletic training has played a significant role in the medical field. This career has gone about a big change in the past hundred years, and this is because of the major technology improvements or advancements that have been made over the years. “A major change in athletic training happened in 1990, when the American Medical Association endorsed athletic training as an allied health profession” (Albohm, 2009). This means that before 1990, athletic training was not included with all jobs in the medical field. It wasn’t even considered as a medical profession (Albohm, 2009). After this the career of athletic training began to rise as many environmental settings needed an athletic trainer. Then, the need for athletic trainers really increased when American football became an official and national sport in the league. People started to realize that responders were needed to be there on the scene to provide care for injured athletes. This is how the career of athletic training started to become a certified medical profession (Harris, Sponsel, Jr., & Maron, 2006). To become an athletic trainer, there are a couple of steps that have to be done. The first and most important factor into becoming an athletic trainer is education. Education is the base of starting this career. Athletic trainers need at least a Bachelor’s Degree to finish their education into pursuing this career. But, if they want a higher pay, then the best choice is to continue on working on getting a Master’s Degree. Next are the skills or qualities that were taught in the educational courses. “These skills involve interpersonal skills, decision-making skills, and being detailed oriented” (Albohm, 2009). Having these skills as an athletic trainer play a major part into being certified. “To be certified as an athletic trainer, they must graduate from a CAATE-accredited program before taking the BOC exam. Last is to be licensed, and to be licensed as an athletic trainer, they must pass the BOC exam or a separate state exam” (Albohm, 2009). But, in some states, an athletic trainer doesn’t have to be licensed, and can get a job quickly. There are many steps into being an athletic trainer, but the pay is worth it. As stated in the introductory paragraph, athletic trainers work in many and various job settings. One of the many jobs that an athletic trainer can do is to be a physician extender. Many doctors or surgeons have hired athletic trainers as a physician extender. This job is becoming very popular in the athletic training field because of the workload that comes with this job. A physician extender performs some of a physician's tasks under the direct supervision of the physician (Stevens, Storch, & Allen, 2007, pp. 29-31). An athletic trainer as a physician extender offers many benefits within an orthopedic setting. “This includes an increased clinic throughput, improved clinic efficiency, and increased revenue for a much lower cost” (Stevens, Storch, & Allen, 2007) “. “Athletic trainers are also assistants with education patients regarding injury management, resulting in greater patient satisfaction and compliance” (Stevens, Storch, & Allen, 2007, pp. 29-31). Now athletic trainers working in a secondary school setting is basically saying that they work in high school or middle school settings. High schools are constantly hiring athletic trainers, and with high school sports, the job market for athletic trainers that want to work in high school settings has sky rocketed. This made athletic training a very important subject in secondary school settings. Between the years of 1971 and 2005, the participation of high school sports has increased by ninety-eight percent. “This all started in 1983, when the Kentucky Medical Association issued a statement to intervene with state high schools to promote sports safety, and in the early 1980s, the American Medical Association added national support, encouraging appropriate medical coverage to all high schools with athletic programs” (Claiborne, Hou, & Cappaert, 2007, pp. 34-38). Basically, athletic trainers that work in these high school settings are on sight at the high school games, and are the first to diagnose an injury. This is why athletic training is important to the settings of secondary schools (Albohm, 2009). Athletic trainers are very popular and important in colleges and universities. This is because there are many colleges in the United States, and mostly all these colleges have athletic programs. Athletics in colleges include all sports for women and men, so this also makes having athletic trainers in colleges important. Usually athletic trainers start off as AT assistants, but as they start to be fit for that environment, they gradually move up to a higher rank or position (Albohm, 2009). When working in college settings, athletic trainers usually take care of all injuries and run tests on athletes to make sure they are ready to play. Athletic trainers work in different levels of colleges, such as Division I, Division II, and Division III. These different levels of colleges can be a very important factor to athletic trainers, because the different levels can determine how your work environment is and how that school functions. For example, Division I colleges will most likely have better athletic facilities because they bring in more money than Division II colleges (Terranova & Henning, 2011, pp. 312-318). But, just because Division I colleges bring in more money, that doesn’t mean that Division II and III colleges aren’t good. Actually the work environment in Division II and III colleges are more loose and less strenuous, because they don’t have a big workload like the bigger colleges do (Terranova & Henning, 2011, pp. 312-318). But, overall college and universities have the most jobs for athletic trainers. The career of athletic training is very new to the military field, but the need for them is increasing as the years go on. Athletic trainers that work in military settings work as a health-care team that works with injured people that are on active duty (Albohm, 2009). These athletic trainers that work in military settings have to live close to the training sites to provide quick rehabilitation because athletic trainers are the first to call when an injury appears. There are also military schools, such as Army and Navy, and these schools also have athletic programs like football, basketball, and others. Athletic trainers may have a difficult job in the military because of high injury rates, but the athletic trainers that work in this job setting provide efficient care on a daily basis. Athletic training has made a huge improvement by getting involved into the military, and the demand for athletic trainers in the military will increase (Denegar, 2010, pp. S54-S56) . Finally are athletic trainers that work for professional sports. There are athletic trainers in all American professional sports, such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. “PGA, professional tennis, auto racing and even the rodeo may be included” (Albohm, 2009). Even though professional sports have a limited amount of games that they play, athletic trainers work all year round to keep their athletes in good shape, and to provide care for the team. Athletic trainers that work in the professional sports settings provide treatment, care, and rehabilitation. Athletic trainers in professional sports are mostly made up of athletic trainer with higher degrees, but just because they have a higher degree that does not mean that they got the job on the spot. Before many athletic trainers enter the professional sports world, they must go through an internship in the season or at training camps. Then, if they are successful throughout their internship, then they may be guaranteed a full position. Athletic trainers in professional settings do not have such strenuous jobs like the other job settings (Harris, Sponsel, Jr., & Maron, 2006, pp. 507-W185). The career of athletic training has established and grew into a very successful field, and accomplished many goals. This career has built a huge stepping stone, and their main accomplishment was becoming acknowledged or known as a profession in the medical field. Athletic trainers are everything in one package and that’s why they are valued in society. Athletic trainers are valued anywhere and everywhere, and they are becoming the new medical leaders of the future.

References
Albohm, M. J. (2009). Athletic Training. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from National Athletic Trainers' Association: http://www.nata.org/
Claiborne, T., Hou, S.-I., & Cappaert, T. (2007). Certified Athletic Trainers Provide Effective Care in the High School Setting. ATHLETIC THERAPY TODAY, 34-38.
Delforge, G. D., & Behnke, R. S. (1999). The history and evolution of athletic training education in the United States. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from Journal Of Athletic Training, 34(1), 53.

Denegar, C. (2010). Free Communications, Oral Presentations: Health Related Outcome Measures. Journal of Athletic Training, S54-S56.
Harris, K. M., Sponsel, A., Jr., A. M., & Maron, B. J. (2006). Brief Communication: Cardiovascular Screening Practices of Major North American Professional Sports Teams. Annals Of Internal Medicine, 507-W185.
Stevens, S., Storch, S., & Allen, A. (2007, May). Orthopedic Surgeons' Perceptions of Athletic Trainers as Physician Extenders. CLINICAL & CORPORATE PERSPECTIVES, 29-31.
Terranova, A. B., & Henning, J. M. (2011). National Collegiate Athletic Association Division and Primary Job Title of Athletic Trainers and Their Job Satisfaction or Intention to Leave Athletic Training. Journal Of Athletic Training, 312-318.