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
2034 Projected Employment
37,600
11% Change From 2024
Explore Athletic Trainers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Lead stretching exercises for team members prior to games or practices.
- File athlete insurance claims and communicate with insurance providers.
- Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
- Instruct coaches, athletes, parents, medical personnel, or community members in the care and prevention of athletic injuries.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
- 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.
- 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.
- Advise athletes on the proper use of equipment.
- Clean and sanitize athletic training rooms.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
- Confer with coaches to select protective equipment.
- Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- 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.
- Massage body parts to relieve soreness, strains, or bruises.
- Inspect playing fields to locate any items that could injure players.
- Teach sports medicine courses to athletic training students.
- Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance.
- Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.
- Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.
- Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
- Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
- Lead stretching exercises for team members prior to games or practices.
- Recommend special diets to improve athletes' health, increase their stamina, or alter their weight.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- 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.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- 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.
- 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.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- 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.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- 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.
- 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.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- 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.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- 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.
- 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.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- 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.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- 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.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- 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.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- 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.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- 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.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
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")