Why I Want To Be An Athletic Trainer

Hello, my name is Mrs. Smith. I am 33 years old and I am a certified Athletic Trainer (ATC). I work at Oakland High School in Colorado. I have been working for the school for seven years now. I really enjoy what I do in life because I am able to provide help to all the athletes at the school, as well as encourage and support them in all of their home games/ events. It was a long journey to get where I am today. Prior to working at Oakland High School, I was employed at a hospital for three years. It has definitely been a roller coaster getting where I am today. I had to put in a lot of time practicing and studying in order to achieve the title of being a certified Athletic Trainer. Not only did I attend college at University of Miami,
Florida, but I also had to go to an accredited professional athletic training education program afterwards.
With becoming an Athletic Trainer you have to meet certain criteria. Like I stated before, I went to an accredited athletic training program and one of the premises in order to get to the level that I am at; you must earn a degree from an accredited athletic training curriculum. Another thing that must be accounted for when meeting the requirements to be a certified Athletic Trainer is graduating with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from an accredited professional athletic training education program. If you cannot earn a Bachelor’s nor a Master’s degree then there will be limitations with how far you can go in the Athletic Training field, so I encourage all to do their very best in school. Furthermore, you must pass a comprehensive test administered by the Board of Certification. There is no way of getting around that fact. Passing ensures your spot at becoming an Athletic Trainer. With anything that you do, you must continue to perform in tasks that are given by instructors to keep certification. Now that you know what the job requires, the next most important thing is the amount of money that one
receives in this job. My profession is one that makes a fair amount of money. We, as Athletic Trainers, make anywhere from $35,000 to $75,000 a year. This is because Athletic Trainers can serve anywhere from healthcare professionals to Athletic Trainers in high schools, like myself. Our job is to help with aiding and preventing injuries that result from playing sports or other physical activities. This all leads into the case study that I will be telling you today.
File XCC: Case 601 is about the hand – specifically in the metacarpals. The hand’s main and only function is movement; grasping, bending, clenching, etc. Since I am focusing on the metacarpals I will tell you a little about the metacarpals itself. Metacarpals are long bones that are connected to the carpals, referred to as the wrist bones, and to the phalanges, otherwise known as the fingers. Overall there are five different types of metacarpals; thumb metacarpal, index metacarpal, middle metacarpal, ring metacarpal, and small metacarpal. The anatomies of the hand from distal to proximal are phalanges, metacarpals, carpals, and radius and ulna. Ten percent of all hand fractures happen within the metacarpals and the phalanges, and it is most likely to happen because of car accidents, work-related injuries, and sports injuries. When I was in high school and college I played on a varsity soccer team, otherwise known as a D1 sport in college, and I knew a lot of my teammates were unfortunate to get a hand fracture once or twice in their high school and college career. I picked the hand to focus on because hands are an essential part in everyday life and hands are frequently broken or fractured in sports. This information intrigued me because I was curious to see how one could navigate through their life for weeks or months with a broken/fractured hand. While I was at a girls’ varsity soccer game at Oakland High School a young lady got hurt and it was in fact a fracture in the hand.
The injury that this young lady had was a fracture – hand fracture, specifically in the metacarpals. (My specialty, woo hoo!) This all happened on a very windy day in April. The Oakland High School Raiders were facing the Ocean View Hawks in the league game. Her name was Lily Sanchez and she was a goalie for the Raiders. She was the one that received the injury. The Raiders were up, but the Hawks were trailing closely behind. It was an intense battle because the Hawks were our number one rivalry school. This was the game of the season and we had to pull this win to advance to third place in the League Board. Number 21, the striker for the Hawks, was coming in hot from the left wing. Number 3 had just made a beautiful cross over in the air to Number 21. Number 21 had trapped it with her chest and was dribbling the ball. She had outrun our halfbacks and was now approaching our very skilled and tactical defense. Number 21 had “nutmegged” the first defender, which means kicking the ball through the legs of an opponent. She was making her way to our second line of defense. She sent a quick pass to Number 11 on the right wing and Number 11 sent a quick pass back to Number 21, otherwise known as a wall pass. The last chance of hope was our sweeper, Number 5. Our Number 5 was able to juke her, take the ball, and send it out of the “deep end”; however Number 21 quickly maintained ground again and made it past Number 5. Now it was one on one between Lily Sanchez and Number 21. Anticipation was at an all-time high throughout the crowd and even players and coaches on the sidelines. Lily Sanchez went to block the ball from entering the net and Number 21’s foot connected with the goalie’s left hand as Lily Sanchez captured the flying ball. Lily’s hand was in the flexed position, so when the collision happened there was an audible noise that occurred.
At that point I rushed onto the field to help her.
She couldn’t move her hand at all and she was crying. I rushed her to the sidelines. The symptoms that occurred because of the fracture were: inability to arch and bend the ligaments in the hand, swelling which turns the skin a bright red, and it was also very tender to the touch, as well as leaving part of the metacarpal in the left hand deformed and depressed. I realized instantly that it was a fracture due to the symptoms, but what surprised me the most was noticing that the ring metacarpal was slowly protruding through the skin. I knew this was serious and told her parents to take her to the doctor’s immediately. I believe that the doctors should complete several physical examinations including; range of motion tests, X-rays, and assessments involving how the hand feels. My plan to treat the injury consists of having my patient wear a splint for three to six weeks with every two weeks containing an X-ray to insure that the metacarpals are still in place. Also, if there is pain the patient is allowed to take an ibuprofen 200 every three hours, so that way the body doesn’t become immune to the drug. However, if the splint does not help then I recommend that surgery should be put in place. This could be placing a wire to keep the bone in place more firmly because in this case the bone punctured the skin. After the surgery, I recommend that the patient sit out for the rest of the soccer season. Also, the person
should get a lot of rest and elevate their hand distal to the heart after the surgery, so that it will reduce swelling. Make sure to have an adequate diet during the time after the surgery so that the patient is able to return back to sports and everyday activity as quick as possible. While the patient is on bed rest, they should be doing shoulder, elbow, and wrist exercises to prevent stiffness after surgery, but they should be doing this with a physical therapist to prevent further injuries from occurring. After two months the patient should be allowed to get back on the field and to normal tasks. However, if the patient starts to feel sudden pain again, I advise them to seek their doctor.
Overall, the Raiders were able to pull the win against the Hawks making the score 5-4. They also finished third in the League Board. Furthermore, due to the exercises that she did while out hurt for the remainder of the season, Lily Sanchez was able to continue to play varsity soccer as the goalie next year for the Raiders. Another case resolved by an Athletic Trainer.