I am an athletic trainer...

Athletic Trainer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Personal trainer.

An athletic trainer is a certified health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA) as an allied health care profession since 1990.^[1]

As defined by the Strategic Implementation Team of the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) in August 2007:^[2]

"Athletic training is practiced by athletic trainers, health care professionals who collaborate with physicians to optimize activity and participation of patients and clients. Athletic training encompasses the prevention, diagnosis^[3] and intervention of emergency, acute and chronic medical conditions involving impairment, functional limitations and disabilities."

Most people who didn't play high school or college athletics don't know the difference between an athletic trainer and a personal trainer. While this is annoying to me, since it is my profession, I understand. How should they know when the two are so often confused? Television announcers, news broadcasters, journalist, and many more do not know or just don't care to differentiate between the two. The most simple way to explain what an athletic trainer is like this... 
You know the when someone gets hurt during a football game? The athletic trainer is the person who runs out on the field to help them!
That is the most basic explanation of an athletic trainer. We do so much more than that!!!! 

****If broken bones/injuries make you sick please don't watch this video to right/below ****

Athletic training is something I have loved since I was a freshman in high school! I saw what the athletic trainer at my high school was doing and I knew that is what I wanted to do. In the following 3 years I worked closely with her and the other athletic trainers that followed her to learn as much as I could. I also attended two high school athletic training workshops at Ball State University! I loved Ball State University and the people there so much that I decided that is where I wanted to study. I spend 4 years at Ball State studying athletic training with some of the most amazing people I have ever met! Professors, athletic trainers, instructors, mentors, and classmates/friends. I could not have asked for a better college experience! 

While you may not know it there were recently some athletic trainers with a lot of TV time and seen a lot on news clips and YouTube clips. Does the Louisville game ring a bell...Athletic trainers were instrumental in the immediate care of Kevin Ware, the young man that broke his leg during the Louisville v. Duke basketball game last week. (The individuals wearing red  in the video above are the athletic trainers.)


If you have 5 minutes you should check out this video on YouTube on athletic trainers! It is amazing! 

Click this link to watch the amazing video (not gross)---> I am an athletic trainer