
Athletic Trainers Treat:
- Exertional sickling
- Early onset osteoarthritis
- Substance abuse
- Disease transmission
- Weight management
- Environmental and weather-related health conditions
- Dental and oral injuries
What are the duties and responsibilities of an athletic trainer?
- Deliver athlete medical care and provide first aid techniques.
- Answer patient question empathetically helpfully.
- Monitor athletic events and team practices.
- Perform initial athletic training evaluations.
- Act as liaison between the patient and physicians, support staff , and medical assistants.
What jobs can an athletic trainer do?
What can athletic trainers do?
- Apply protective or injury-preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, and braces.
- Recognize and evaluate injuries.
- Provide first aid or emergency care.
- Develop and carry out rehabilitation programs for injured athletes.
Who do athletic trainers and what do they do?
Athletic trainers work with people of all ages and all skill levels, from young children to professional athletes. Duties and responsibilities include: Apply protective or injury-preventive devices such as tape, bandages, and braces. Recognize and evaluate injuries. Provide first aid or emergency care.
What are the job requirements for an athletic trainer?
In most states Athletic trainers are required to have:
- Bachelor’s Degree
- Approve Accredited program from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education.
- State locensure or certification
- Master Degree is a plus.

What kind of people do athletic trainers work with?
Athletic trainers work with people of all ages and all skill levels, from young children to soldiers and professional athletes. Athletic trainers are usually one of the first healthcare providers on the scene when injuries occur on the field.
What injuries do athletic trainers treat?
Athletic and sports trainers treat people of all ages with a wide variety of conditions, including sprains, strains, overuse injuries, back pain, knee pain, arthritis, herniated discs, and osteoporosis.
What do athletic trainers help with?
Athletic Trainers are able to treat and address injuries in the following ways:Provide emergency care for traumatic injuries or life-threatening conditions.Administer first aid.Assist with any pre-practice or game needs like stretching or taping.Evaluate/treat orthopedic and possible head injuries.More items...
What type of individual falls under the care of athletic trainers?
Athletic trainers are healthcare professionals that specialize in treating athletic and physically active individuals. Under the direction of a physician, athletic trainers treat patients and collaborate with other healthcare professionals.
What is the difference between athletic training and physical therapy?
Physical injury is the focus for both athletic trainers and physical therapists. An athletic trainer specifically works with athletes. A physical therapist, on the other hand, may work with any patient who has been injured or is dealing with an illness that impacts their physical wellbeing.
Can an athletic trainer diagnose?
Unlike personal trainers, athletic trainers focus on the prevention and treatment of sports injuries. They specialize in physical evaluations and risk assessments. They can also diagnose and treat injuries. ATs learn to recognize and assess high-risk to injuries.
What are the 5 areas of focus for an athletic trainer?
Injury prevention, assessment, management, treatment and rehabilitation are the five main areas in which Certified Athletic Trainers are uniquely trained.
What makes athletic trainer unique?
Athletic trainers are unique health care providers who specialize in the prevention, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses.
How much does a NFL athletic trainer make?
around $45,000 to $75,000With the NFL athletic trainer salary set relatively high, somewhere around $45,000 to $75,000[i], there can be a lot of competition to get your foot in the door! If you're asking yourself how to become an athletic trainer for the NFL, the first step is to get an internship!
Do athletic trainers only work with athletes?
Why use athletic trainers? Athletic trainers provide medical services to all types of patients, not just athletes participating in sports, and can work in a variety of job settings.
What are the six personal qualities of an athletic trainer?
Six items were reported as the most important personal attributes for successful ATCs. These items had the highest percentage of responses as essential to the success of athletic trainers at the Division III level: Trustworthiness (76.2%) Honesty (73.5%)...Leadership (93.7%)Decisiveness (91.8%)Consistency (91.2%)
What is the median salary for an athletic trainer?
44,670 USD (2015)Athletic trainer / Median pay (annual)
How do athletic trainers help with rehabilitation?
We help rehabilitate injuries from the moment they happen until the athlete steps back on the field days or months later. We refer patients to other members of our sports medicine team when necessary. We focus on preventing injury through education, hydration, strengthening, taping, and bracing.
Do athletic trainers do rehab?
Athletic trainers provide conditioning and rehab services but are typically hired by professional and college teams and school districts to handle on-the-field injuries and emergencies. Torn ACLs, dislocated shoulders, arm fractures – orthopedic injuries run the gamut.
What are the 6 roles and responsibilities of the athletic trainer?
The six domains of athletic training are injury prevention, clinical evaluation and diagnosis, immediate care, treatment, rehabilitation and reconditioning, organization and administration, and professional responsibility.
How athletic trainers prevent injuries?
Athletic trainers try to prevent injuries by educating people on how to reduce their risk for injuries and by advising them on the proper use of equipment, exercises to improve balance and strength, and home exercises and therapy programs.
What Athletic Trainers Do
Athletic trainers specialize in preventing, diagnosing, and treating muscle and bone injuries and illnesses.
Work Environment
Many athletic trainers work in educational settings, such as colleges, universities, elementary schools, and secondary schools. Others work in hospitals, fitness centers, or physicians’ offices, or for professional sports teams.
How to Become an Athletic Trainer
Athletic trainers need at least a bachelor’s degree. Nearly all states require athletic trainers to have a license or certification; requirements vary by state.
Job Outlook
Employment of athletic trainers is projected to grow 23 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.
State & Area Data
Explore resources for employment and wages by state and area for athletic trainers.
Similar Occupations
Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of athletic trainers with similar occupations.
Scope of practice
Athletic trainers are highly educated and skilled health sciences professional specializing in athletic health care. They work with coaches, doctors, and physical therapists.
Work environment
In cooperation with physicians and other allied health professionals, the athletic trainer functions as an integral member of the health care team in colleges and universities, K-12 schools, hospitals, fitness centers, doctors’ offices, and for professional sports teams. Because of this, athletic trainers may work with patients of all ages.
Higher education requirements
To become an athletic trainer, you need at least a bachelor’s degree, though the National Athletic Trainers’ Association reports that 70 percent of athletic trainers have a master’s degree. Many employers prefer to hire athletic trainers with master’s degrees.
Career opportunities and outlook
The average annual salary for an athletic trainer is $49,800, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure is dependent on experience, qualifications, and location. The field is relatively small so jobs are competitive, especially for positions with professional and college sports teams.
What is an Athletic Trainer?
Athletic trainers are sometimes mistaken for athletic coaches because of the word 'trainer'. However, an athletic trainer is actually a highly qualified health care professional.
What does an Athletic Trainer do?
The definition of athletic training, according to the Strategic Implementation Team of the National Athletic Trainers' Association's (NATA):
What is the workplace of an Athletic Trainer like?
Many athletic trainers work in educational facilities, such as secondary schools and colleges. Others may work in physicians' offices or for professional sports teams. Some athletic trainers work in rehabilitation and therapy clinics, in the military, or with performing artists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Athletic trainers who wish to become certified by the National Athletic Trainers Association must complete a bachelor’s degree at a school with an accredited athletic training program. This degree takes four years to complete, though some schools may offer the option to accelerate the program by taking additional or summer courses.
Athletic trainer salary
The average salary for athletic trainers in the United States is around $48,661 per year. Salaries typically start from $31,443 and go up to $75,309.
Learn About the Salary, Required Skills, & More
Dawn Rosenberg McKay is a certified Career Development Facilitator. She is a former writer for The Balance Careers.
Athletic Trainer Duties & Responsibilities
An athletic trainer's exact responsibilities can depend to some extent on the employer, but some common duties include: 1
Athletic Trainer Salary
The pay for athletic trainers can depend heavily on their employers, such as whether they work for an elementary school or in professional sports. Overall, the median incomes including all employers are: 2
Education, Training & Certification
Those looking for a career as an athletic trainer should ideally have a college degree and get licensed. 3
Athletic Trainer Skills & Competencies
In addition to education, training, and licensure, you should also possess certain qualities, known as soft skills, to succeed in this field. 3
Job Outlook
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies this as a "bright outlook" occupation due to its excellent job outlook. The agency predicts that employment of athletic trainers will grow much faster than the average for all occupations between 2019 and 2029, by about 16%. 4
Work Environment
Expect to travel frequently if you work for a sports team. When the team goes on the road, so will you. You'll also have to travel to away games even if you work for a community youth team or high school.
Who are athletic trainers?
Athletic trainers (ATs) are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals who render service or treatment, under the direction of or in collaboration with a physician, in accordance with their education, training and the state's statutes, rules and regulations.
Regulation of athletic trainers
Athletic trainers are licensed or otherwise regulated in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Efforts continue to add licensure in California.
Why use athletic trainers?
Athletic trainers provide medical services to all types of patients, not just athletes participating in sports, and can work in a variety of job settings. Athletic trainers relieve widespread and future workforce shortages in primary care support and outpatient rehab professions and provide an unparalleled continuum of care for the patients.
Reimbursement of athletic training services
The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for athletic training services are: athletic training evaluation (97005) and re-evaluation (97006). These codes are part of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) CPT family of codes.