What is an athletic trainer and what do they do?

Athletic trainers are skilled and highly educated health care professionals. Contrary to what the name may suggest, athletic trainers (or ATs) work with a variety of individuals in a variety of settings. While they are the person you often see on the sidelines at a sporting event or taping an ankle, there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes. 

Athletic trainers work in a variety of settings. Here at North Shore Health, our athletic trainer works in the rehab department with cardiac and pulmonary rehab patients, helps assist multiple  outreach providers to make sure their clinic days run smoothly, and provides coverage at Cook County High School both to oversee sporting events and multiple days a week at the school to see athletes who may need nonemergent evaluation and/or treatment plans.

Listed below are the 5 domains of athletic training. This provides a quick overview of all that an athletic trainer is equipped and trained to do within their scope of practice. 

5 Domains of Athletic Training

 

This domain focuses on working with individuals to avoid injuries or illnesses. This can include anything from identifying muscle weaknesses that can increase risk of injury and providing the patient exercises to strengthen that muscle, to taping a wrist, to telling an individual to sleep more and drink more water (and why).

Here athletic trainers focus on an injury and/or illness that already exists. This can be acute or chronic. Athletic trainers will perform a thorough assessment to determine the cause of the injury or illness in order to come up with an appropriate treatment plan. This step can also include a referral to another health care professional if warranted.

Athletic trainers wear many hats and during emergency medicine, they get to put on their first responder hat. This domain can include splinting a broken bone, reducing a dislocation, or performing CPR. Oftentimes in their care setting (especially at a high school or college) if a medical emergency takes place, the athletic trainer is the first face the patient will see in these potentially traumatic moments. ATs are trained to remain calm in these high stress situations and provide high quality care to the patient.

Also known as the treatment domain. Within this domain athletic trainers function similar to a physical therapist. They will provide patients with individualized treatment plans, oversee treatment plans provided by physical therapists, use modalities such as ice, heat, ultrasound, and electrical stimulation. Athletic trainers will also work with athletes and patients on graduated treatment plans to make sure they are ready to return safely to their sport or other activities they enjoy doing. This includes overseeing concussion return to play protocols when needed.

This is where the most behind the scenes work takes place. This domain is where the athletic trainers are responsible for maintaining healthcare records, documentation, budgeting, knowing the laws and regulations, scope of practice, and all the other paperwork involved. This also includes obtaining the required continuing education credits required by the National Board of Certification.

What do the letters mean behind an athletic trainer's name?

Behind many ATs names you may see a wide variety of letter combinations. While this may look like alphabet soup, they all mean something different. The most common are MS, ATC, LAT. The MS stands for Master of Science. Most athletic trainers hold a master’s degree or higher. The ATC stands for Certified Athletic Trainer (we know it’s backwards). They earn this after graduating from an accredited program and successfully passing an exam known as the BOC (Board of Certification) Exam. The last of the most common letters (LAT) stand for Licensed Athletic Trainer. In addition to their national certification, many states also require athletic trainers to apply for state licensure. 


If you have questions about your child's athletic participation with the school or the athletic training program, please call 218-387-3276.