What do Athletic Trainers do?

What do Athletic Trainers do?

Athletic trainers do most of their rehab and assist their patients in their offices.

The economic principle I’m exploring is Because of scarcity, people choose. All choices have an opportunity cost.

My research question to help me study the economic principle is “Due to a scarcity of athletic trainers in major league sports, what is the opportunity cost of the athletes that need assistance with training and injuries?”

The article Current Concepts in Sports Injury Rehabilitation published in National Institute of Health titled “Current Concepts in Sports Injury Rehabilitation” demonstrates this economic principle by arguing and showing the planning that it takes for an athletic trainer to help all their patients/team members, the rehab they have to go through, and how to let the person go back to the sport.

First, an Athletic Trainer helps all of their patients and team members that they work for and with. Normally, an athletic trainer works for a specific team, such as The Chicago White Sox, and they are dedicated to work with the players and create workouts, rehabilitation workouts, assist in training, workout with the players, and always take care of the injuries that occur during games, practices, and even off the field. When an injury occurs during a game or practice, the athletic trainers are responsible for taking them out of the sport temporarily or permanently so the injury can start the healing process. Athletic trainers work with the injured player and the coaches to create schedules for the player to ensure a safe return to the sport.

Second, the athletic trainers put the players through rehab if necessary after an injury occurs and slowly bring the players back to playing regularly. They create workouts to do with the injured player and make sure that they will be coming back to playing and have a plan of when they should be back in the sport. During the rehab time, they have to make sure that the player is doing the correct work in order to return back to the sport by making sure that they are using correct form so they do not injury themselves more.

Third, the athletic trainer is able to release the player when they believe they are capable of returning and continuing practice with a higher intensity. First, the athletic trainer allows the player to go to a practice when they believe they are able to continue practice as usual. The player goes to practice but does not give full effort while the trainer watches to make sure they are not showing signs that the injury is restricting them in any way. The player has to go through one practice before a game without any signs that the injury is interfering with the players activity, and after they go through a practice with their teammates, then they are able to return to playing to their fullest ability-which includes games.

In my next blog post I will research the question: What are alternate options for sports players who are injured/need training?