The Role and Relationship of Athletic Trainers in Sports Medicine Practice

Image 1. Statistics for athletic trainers (Adopted from at your own risk [3])
Almost all athletic trainers work long hours during their seasons and sacrifice many things. Some games and practices occur very early in the morning or late at night. Football games almost always occur on Friday nights or on weekends. Availability before practice and games is also needed for evaluations and treatments. I always value their input on certain situations in regards to an athlete’s goals, demeanor or reactions in certain situations. ATs spend much more time with student athletes than the team or personal physicians and tend to know most on a more personal level. This brings up the next important role for athletic trainers, which is providing first line recognition of mental health issues or disorders. Regardless of the setting – secondary, collegiate, professional, military, or clinical – every athlete or patient is at risk to experience stressors that could lead to emotional disturbances.

Image 2. Picture of an athletic trainer treating an athlete on the field (courtesy of blog.mission-health.org)