March is Athletic Training Month
National Athletic Training Month is held every March in order to spread awareness about the important work of athletic trainers. Athletic trainers (ATs), like those at Horizon Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine, are highly-skilled health care professionals who work tirelessly behind the scenes to provide compassionate health care for athletes, patients, soldiers, workers, and performers. This month, let’s show how much we appreciate their dedication and work.
Areas of Health that Athletic Trainers Impact
Athletic Trainers impact health care before, during, and after an injury occurs. ATs are experts in injury and illness prevention and spend nearly half of their time providing preventative health care.
Injury and Illness Prevention: ATs implement injury prevention programs and help mitigate risk by developing venue-specific emergency action plans.
Examination and Diagnosis of Injuries: ATs help ensure that patients receive the necessary health screenings as well as evaluate injuries when they occur.
Immediate and Emergency Care: ATs provide emergency care for injuries and illnesses such as concussions, cardiac arrest, spine injuries, heat stroke, diabetes, allergic reactions, and asthma attacks.
Therapeutic Intervention: ATs recondition and rehabilitate injuries, illnesses, and general medical conditions for optimal performance and function.
Health Care Administration: ATs are pioneers of change. Through injury data collected by ATs, the athletic training profession is shaping injury prevention and identifying new ways to keep patients healthy while reducing overall healthcare costs.
Who are Athletic Trainers?
Athletic trainers (ATs) are highly qualified, multi-skilled health care professionals who render service or treatment. They 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.
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.
Your Lowcountry Sports Medicine Provider
At Horizon Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine, we offer a variety of specialized physical and occupational therapy services in the Lowcountry where you can get help from our trusted and expert therapists. In most cases, no physician referral is needed. If you have questions regarding the need for athletic training or establishing a baseline evaluation, we would love the opportunity to help you, so please do not hesitate to reach us, (843) 671-7342.