Advisor: Dr. Virginia Wilcox
Career Description: 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. As a part of the health care team, services provided by athletic trainers include primary care, injury and illness prevention, wellness promotion and education, emergent care, examination and clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. 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. Athletic trainers improve functional outcomes and specialize in patient education to prevent injury and re-injury. Athletic trainers are able to reduce injury and shorten rehabilitation time for their patients, which translates to lower absenteeism from work or school and reduced health care costs.
Athletic trainers are sometimes confused with personal trainers. There is, however, a large difference in the education, skillset, job duties and patients of an athletic trainer and a personal trainer. The athletic training academic curriculum and clinical training follows the medical model. Athletic trainers must graduate from an accredited baccalaureate or master’s program, and 70% of ATs have a master’s degree. Athletic trainers are licensed or otherwise regulated in 49 states and the District of Columbia.
Becoming an Athletic Trainer: Although there are undergraduate programs in Athletic Training, there is an effort to move this profession to one that requires a Masters degree or higher for certification. All new programs in Athletic Training will be graduate degrees; therefore, students interested in this field should plan on applying to a program which will provide a Masters in Athletic Training (MAT). These programs are competitive and require a strong undergraduate GPA (generally 3.0 or higher) and extensive patient contact experience. Masters granting programs are generally 2-3 years in duration; training education uses a competency-based approach in both the classroom and clinical settings. To become a certified athletic trainer, a student must graduate with bachelors or master’s degree from an accredited professional athletic training education program and pass a comprehensive test administered by the Board of Certification (BOC). Once certified, athletic trainers must meet ongoing continuing education requirements in order to remain certified.
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