1
Career Opportunities in Sports Medicine
Have you given serious thought to the kind of work you want to do when you are graduated from school? Do you enjoy helping people with their problems, working on a person-to-person basis or with groups of people? Do you advise family members and friends on their problems, or perform volunteer work in a hospital or other health-care facility? Are science, English, health, and physical education among your favorite school subjects? Do you think you would like to work in a high school, college, hospital, or health-care clinic? Do you like working with athletes? If your answer to some of these questions is Yes, you should explore career opportunities in sports medicine.
Sports Medicine
Sports medicine is "the aspect of medical care that focuses on diet and exercise programs for athletes, monitors them as they train and compete, and helps to prevent or to treat sports-related injuries" (Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia). The sports medicine field encompasses many medical disciplines--among them are nutrition, physiology, psychology, physical therapy, and surgery--and many different professions. The primary purpose of the sports medicine field is to serve the needs of participants who are trying to reach their athletic goals in the most effective manner under safe conditions.
Sports medicine focuses on four areas: the preparation of the athlete, prevention of injury and illness, diagnosis and treatment of injury, and rehabilitation of injury. Preparation includes both physical and mental preparation. Physical preparation involves conducting conditioning exercises to develop certain muscle groups and to increase the capacity of the heart and lungs to supply the body with a greater amount of oxygen. Mental preparation focuses on building a high self-esteem, maintaining a desire to train regularly, avoiding undue risks, learning to accept whatever changes in lifestyle may be necessary to accomplish athletic goals, and handling psychological stress associated with the risk of injury or illness.
Effective treatment of sports injuries relies on accurate diagnosis and early treatment to prevent further damage. Technology advances have given sports medicine several new means to diagnose injury. X-rays and bone scans are used to diagnose joint and bone injuries; arthrograms and arthroscopy are used to diagnose and treat many knee injuries that could not be rehabilitated 30 years ago. CT scans assist sports medicine practitioners in evaluating neck and head injuries. Ice, heat, and anti-inflammatory drugs are used frequently to treat sprains or dislocations. A multidisciplinary approach using physical therapy, physical training, and mental training has proven to be effective in rehabilitation of an athlete's injury.
Practitioners
The number of people working in sports medicine has increased as more and more people have participated in competitive and recreational athletic sports and games during the past four decades. Those directly involved in providing health services to athletes are physicians, dentists, physical therapists, athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, nutritionists, psychologists, and strength coaches. Also included in sports medicine are those who conduct research in such areas as biomechanics, an area of science that studies body motion, and kinesiology, the study of anatomy and the movement of muscles.
Athletic directors, coaches, equipment personnel, referees, members of sports governing bodies and rules committees, and suppliers of sports equipment and facilities are also considered by many to be part of the sports medicine field. People holding these positions are as concerned with having athletes achieve their maximum effectiveness in a safe environment as are athletic trainers, exercise physiologists, etc.
Athletic Trainers
Athletic trainers are directly involved in preparing, preventing, diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating athletic injuries. The athletic trainer is a sports medicine professional who deals with the athlete from the time of initial injury until the athlete has permission to return to practice or competition.
Places of Employment
Athletic trainers have many more employment opportunities today than they did in the early 1950s, when nearly all trainers worked in colleges and universities or with professional teams. Today, athletic trainers are employed in school districts or secondary schools, sports medicine clinics, and corporations, in addition to colleges and universities and professional sport teams.
Colleges and universities. The athletic trainer's position varies considerably from institution to institution at this level. In smaller institutions, the athletic trainer may combine teaching physical education classes with athletic training duties. Some institutions seek other (Cylkowski, 262) combinations. One such combination may be hiring an athletic trainer who is also a physical therapist so that person can work as an athletic trainer in the intercollegiate athletic department and as a physical therapist in the school's health center. Larger institutions employ one or more athletic trainers who do not have teaching responsibilities and who work full-time in the intercollegiate athletic office. In some instances, the athletic trainer is expected to serve those in the general student body who participate in intramural or club sports, as well as student-athletes who participate in intercollegiate sports.
Professional teams. The athletic trainer for a professional team performs specific team training duties during the team's playing season and then conducts conditioning and rehab programs during the off-season. One advantage of working for a professional team may be the opportunity to specialize in preventing and treating injuries common to one sport. Another advantage may be the opportunity to earn substantial bonuses when the professional team advances to playoffs and wins championships.
Sports medicine clinics. Sports medicine clinics employ greater numbers of athletic trainers today than any other employment setting. Most clinical athletic trainers care for patients with sports-related injuries during the morning hours. In the afternoon and/or evening hours, the clinic contracts the athletic trainer's services to local secondary schools or small colleges for practice and/or game coverage. Clinics generally have well-equipped athletic training facilities and pay higher salaries than those paid by other employers of athletic training. The clinic also provides a great deal of variety for the athletic trainer.
Industrial settings. Many corporations with a large number of employees at one location employ athletic trainers to oversee employee fitness and injury rehab programs (Arnheim and Prentice, 23). Employment opportunities in this setting are expected to grow as corporations continue to search for ways to curb rising health-care costs and seek the benefits derived from a workforce that enjoys good health.
Duties and Responsibilities
Athletic trainers must have basic knowledge and competencies in a variety of different specialty areas within the sports medicine field, since they must render service in many aspects of the field. Specific duties and responsibilities of the athletic trainer are described in the following paragraphs.
Rehabilitation and reconditioning. Athletic trainers must work closely with the team physician with respect to rehab procedures, the use of special equipment, and referral to other health personnel or services. Once the team physician has diagnosed and evaluated an injury, the athletic trainer will immediately design, begin, and supervise a rehab program for the injured athlete. Oftentimes athletic trainers need to construct special orthotic devices to correct problems associated with injuries.
Education. The athletic trainer must educate athletes, members of the health-care industry, and the general public as to exactly what an athletic trainer is and the scope of the athletic trainer's position. This is often accomplished by meeting with local and community groups, providing health care to athletes, and working with and supporting other members of the sports medicine team in a professional manner.
Organization and administration. The athletic trainer is responsible for the organization and administration of the training room, including the purchase and inventory of supplies and equipment; maintenance of health, injury, and treatment records for each athlete; and selection and supervision of assistant or student trainers. Athletic trainers must perform these duties and responsibilities within the confines of an approved budget; and, therefore, they must make important decisions about how to best spend available monies.
Counseling and guidance. The athletic trainer is responsible for counseling and advising athletes with regard to rehab and treatment of injuries as well as any other matter that might help the athlete perform, safely achieve maximum performance, or cope with personal problems. The athletic trainer has many opportunities to develop meaningful and long-lasting relationships with individual athletes that result in satisfying professional and personal rewards.
The Future
During the last two decades, athletic training has made great gains. Today's athletic trainers have a strong general and specialized education, in addition to a substantial amount of closely supervised clinical experience. Athletic trainers continue to gain stature as well-trained health-care professionals.
"With the emergence of specialized sport centers across the country, the demand for certified trainers has increased dramatically" (Cylkowski, 261), and this demand is expected to continue. High schools alone offer the potential of 10,000 to 20,000 positions, and there is currently a shortage of women athletic trainers (Cylkowski, 262).
Questions
1. What is the first word on p.3?
2. What are the first two words on p.2, line 12 of the report?
3. Excluding the title and side heading, what is the first word of the second ¶ on p.1?
4. What is the first word on line 100 of the report?
5. What is the last word of the first full ¶ on p.4?