An athletic trainer, certified (ATC), is a health care professional who specializes in the care and prevention of athletic injuries. To become certified in athletic training, you must complete a specified course of study in sports medicine and pass the National Athletic Trainers' Association certification test. All ATCs have at least a bachelor's degree; however, more than 70% of certified athletic trainers also have master's degrees. Athletic trainers are employed in a variety of settings, most commonly at a school (high school or college), where the athletic trainer provides health care to student-athletes. Other employment opportunities for the athletic trainer are with professional teams, rehabilitation clinics or hospitals, and in industry settings.

Some schools with athletic programs and teams do not employ an athletic trainer, but they can benefit from the services of clinical athletic trainers. These professionals are able to visit the schools on a scheduled basis as determined by a contract between the school and the athletic trainer's clinic or facility. While this system does provide a minimal level of care, it does not offer the benefits of each school's having a full-time athletic trainer.

The resistance to hiring an athletic trainer is usually based on a lack of funding. Yet, athletic trainers will pay for themselves many times over with the savings that are realized in reduced medical expenses, liability, and injury rates. In a recent study, high schools without athletic trainers had a 63% reinjury rate, and high schools with athletic trainers had a 3% reinjury rate.

The athletic world is a world of teams. Even athletes in individual sports, such as tennis and golf, compete as a team, and sports medicine is no different. The sports medicine team includes of the team physician and the athletic trainer, working with the coach, athlete, and parents, to provide the best health care possible to the injured athlete. The athletic trainer is the health care professional who usually has the most contact with the athletes on a daily basis; this frequent contact is invaluable in caring for the athlete.

The athletic trainer has many areas of responsibility. They can be classified as follows: injury prevention, injury recognition and evaluation, injury management, injury rehabilitation, organization and administration, and education and counseling.

As you can see, there are many different areas where the athletic trainer can have an impact on the mission and efficiency of an athletic program. And there is no doubt that the athletic trainer can be one of the most important members of the athletic staff.

Bruce Getz, ATC
Columbus, Georgia