What does an athletic trainer do?

The Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC) is a highly educated and skilled health care professional. In cooperation with physicians and other allied health personnel, the athletic trainer functions as an integral member of the health care team in a wide array of work settings – including secondary schools, colleges and universities, sports medicine clinics, professional sports programs, hospitals and the military.

Look around you – people these days are on the move. We’re learning more, trying more, doing more. And when the level of physical activity increases, the risk for injury rises as well. That’s where the certified athletic trainer comes in: whether it’s an athlete of any age, a worker performing physical tasks or even an average citizen delving into recreational athletics, the certified athletic trainer can help.

ATCs are medical experts in preventing, recognizing, managing and rehabilitating injuries that result from physical activity. Athletic trainers can help you avoid unnecessary medical treatment and disruption of normal daily life; if you’re injured, they can get you on the mend and keep you on the move.
Specifically, the ATC specializes in six practice areas or domains:

• Prevention
• Recognition, evaluation and assessment
• Immediate care
• Treatment, rehabilitation and reconditioning
• Organization and administration
• Professional development and responsibility

As part of a complete health care team, the certified athletic trainer works under the direction of a licensed physician and in cooperation with other health care professionals, athletics administrators, coaches and parents. The ATC gets to know each athlete or patient individually and can treat injuries more effectively as a result.

The ATC ensures continual communication between the injured athlete/patient, physician, coach and family on when and how the athlete/patient can return to play or to work. As specialists in the prevention, recognition and rehabilitation of injuries, ATCs can administer immediate emergency care and - under the supervision of the family or team physician - use their knowledge of each athlete's or patient’s injuries and the factors influencing them to develop a treatment program based on medical, exercise and sports sciences.

A certified athletic trainer's day may, for example, include these tasks:

• Prepare athletes for practice or competition, including taping, bandaging and bracing
• Evaluate injuries to determine their management and possible referral
• Develop conditioning programs
• Implement treatment and rehabilitation programs