Athletic Trainers Research Paper

Words: 872
Pages: 4

Athletic Trainers The growing trend of this generation aiming to become more fit and with the United States making football its national sport, the need for more athletic trainers has significantly risen over the years. Currently, athletic trainers is one of the fastest growing profession in the United States but even with this growing trend, people outside of the industry still confuse athletic trainers for personal trainers. Similar to strength and conditioning coaches, performance specialists, physical therapists and even massage therapists, the athletic trainers play a large role in the preparation and maintenance of their clients. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) defines an athletic trainer as “an expert recognizing, …show more content…
The Paidotribes (boy rubber) and the Aleittes suggest that massage therapy aided the athletes in their athletic performance. Hippocrates often advised his ill patients to exercise to speed up their recovery. (Peterson, 2006). Athletes before the 19th century often managed their own rehabilitation from injuries. There was no profession dedicated solely in managing the athletes health and performance in sports. In 1896, the brutal sport of football was introduced into the national scene by Rutgers and Princeton, in which in 1905, 18 deaths and 159 injuries resulted from the games. This prompted the need for individuals to monitor the players health and well being. In 1914, Samuel E Bilik graduated with from the University of Illinois with a degree in Physical Education. He continued and enrolled as a medical student. He was later hired by the University of Illinois as a part-time athletic trainer thus changing the norm (Peterson, 2006). In 1950 NATA was established in order to set and enforce standards on practice and care of athletes. In 1989, a National Board of Certification for was established providing certification program for entry level athletic trainers (Jenkins, …show more content…
These needs can include but are not limited to: evaluating/diagnosing an injury, rehabilitation, taping, massage therapy, nutrition and injury prevention. Research by Beach and Brumels (2008) found that with so much time and energy devoted to the athlete, some athletic trainers find it hard to complete their other daily tasks and responsibilities. With 38% of trainers experiencing high levels of “role overload” and 22% of trainers experiencing “role conflict”, the field is producing more dissatisfied professionals and even more wanting to leave completely when compared to previous years (Beach & Brumels, 2008). The increase of stress for athletic trainers can come from various sources: the athlete could be pressing to get back on the field early or the coach may play someone against the trainer’s advice. With so many decisions being made within athletic organizations, it may be difficult to point blame when things go