Six Domains of Athletic Training

Athletic trainers are not doctors, but are an extremely important part of a coaching team because they help athletes recover from muscle or skeletal injuries so they can get back to their active lifestyles quickly and safely. Before you can become an athletic trainer, you must master the six domains of athletic training.

  1. Injury Prevention

    • The number one priority of an athletic trainer is to prevent injury altogether. Many athletes participate in sports activities with pre-existing conditions or injuries that should be known by the athletic trainer who serves them. The most common of these are injured or weak ankles or wrists, which can be protected simply and effectively by wrapping them properly in athletic tape.

    Recognition, Evaluation and Assessment

    • Sometimes athletes ignore pain when they are injured during practice, or especially during an athletic competition because they don't think it's worth worrying about, or more commonly because they don't want to be forced to sit out of the practice or competition. It is the job of the athletic trainer to recognize when an athlete is injured and call her over do evaluate the injury. Once it has been determined whether or not she is injured, the damage must be properly assessed before care can be provided.

    Immediate Care

    • After assessing an injury, an athletic trainer is required to provide immediate care if it is needed. This care may include the application of ice, splinting a broken limb or testing for a concussion. Because an athletic trainer is expected to perform these tasks with precision, he is responsible for being very familiar and up to date with first aid and CPR procedure.

    Treatment, Rehabilitation and Reconditioning

    • When an athlete injures himself seriously, longterm treatment may be necessary, as well as rehabilitation and reconditioning. An athletic trainer specializes in muscular and skeletal injuries, therefore is responsible for bringing an athlete who has broken a bone, sprained a joint or injured a muscle back to health by designing a program of exercises and activities that will safely work the injured body part back to performance level.

    Organization and Administration

    • When thinking of the responsibilities of an athletic trainer, administration doesn't often come to mind. However, it is a very important duty of a head athletic trainer to organize her team well and be able to communicate effectively with the athletes and coaches she works with. It is also the duty of an athletic trainer to keep track of her budget and maintain her athletic training tools and gear in good condition.

    Development and Responsibility

    • Athletic trainers serve as educators to the athletes they work with and are expected to guide them in both their training and nutrition to help them develop into the healthiest athletes they can be. As previously mentioned, athletic trainers are not doctors and cannot diagnose an injury. They are held responsible for treatments they give to injured athletes, therefor they must always be honest with athletes and recommend a visit to the doctor if an injury has a possibility of becoming too severe for an athletic trainer to properly treat.