Athletic Trainers: Healthcare Providers or Wannabes?

This post is likely to come off as a rant this evening, but I’m sorry: gotta do it! For those of you who may not know, I am a Certified Athletic Trainer. I am licensed in both Illinois and Texas. And I also hold a Masters Degree in Medical Sciences specializing in Pediatric Sports Medicine. So, just understand where this is coming from…

What Has the NATA Done?

This question was asked on Twitter this week. And it’s not the first time. I’m sure it won’t be the last time. But this is a question that irritates me. What has the professional organization done for an individual lately?

If You Want to Be It, Then Do It

Sorry for the rant today, but it’s something that has bothered me lately. This post is not intended to be offensive and I hope people don’t take it as such. But today I must put my feelings out there…

If you want to be it, then go do it! I think this is one of our (many) problems in healthcare. Everybody thinks they are qualified to do everybody’s job. Chiropractors demand to be called doctors. Nurses want to be called doctors. Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners want the power of being a doctor. Physical Therapists want the power of being a doctor. But Physical Therapists also want to be Chiropractors and Athletic Trainers too! Chiropractors want to be doctors and they want to be Physical Therapists too! Athletic Trainers think they should be Physical Therapists. Anybody else confused yet?

The Stigma of the Concussion

We have talked about before the stigma of a concussion and “being weak” or whatever. For a long time, those in athletics did not understand a concussion and so it was just pushed off. Over the last several years, the medical community has continued to learn more and more about traumatic brain injuries and we’ve brought that into the athletic community as well.

Unfortunately I have seen some things that bother me as we continue to better educate ourselves and those around us. The researchers dealing with concussions, and the aftermath, on a daily basis are providing great insight but they also recognize we are nowhere near ready to have “all the answers.” Meanwhile, those who are less educated are being more vocal and that is discouraging. Two examples of that would be the Kansas City Chiefs player who shot his girlfriend and then himself a few weeks ago and most recently the former baseball player who recently committed suicide. Many have been quick to theorize that concussions were the cause of these suicides.

I have great concern what these inferences may do to sports and to our continued research of concussions.