Athletic Trainers
Evaluate and treat musculoskeletal injuries or illnesses. Provide preventive, therapeutic, emergency, and rehabilitative care.
Also Known As:
Athletic Instructor
Athletic Lecturer
Athletic Trainer
Certified Athletic Trainer
Personal Trainer
Resident Athletic Trainer
Women's Athletic Trainer
Wages
Annual wages for Athletic Trainers in United States
Job Outlook
Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
38,700
13% Change From 2023
Explore Athletic Trainers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
- Lead stretching exercises for team members prior to games or practices.
- File athlete insurance claims and communicate with insurance providers.
- Conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care and to determine whether they should be referred to physicians for definitive diagnosis and treatment.
- Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Instruct coaches, athletes, parents, medical personnel, or community members in the care and prevention of athletic injuries.
- Advise athletes on the proper use of equipment.
- Clean and sanitize athletic training rooms.
- Collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs for athletic injuries.
- Collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs for athletic injuries.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Clean and sanitize athletic training rooms.
- Apply protective or injury preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, or braces, to body parts, such as ankles, fingers, or wrists.
- Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
- Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.
- Confer with coaches to select protective equipment.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- Massage body parts to relieve soreness, strains, or bruises.
- Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Inspect playing fields to locate any items that could injure players.
- Lead stretching exercises for team members prior to games or practices.
- Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
- Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
- Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance.
- Recommend special diets to improve athletes' health, increase their stamina, or alter their weight.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Teach sports medicine courses to athletic training students.
- Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")