Athletic Training
Reach Your Full Potential with Athletic Training
For over 15 years, we have advocated for Certified Athletic Trainers to be at every high school, working with local districts to meet their needs. Our athletic trainers also serve as medical professionals at many local tournaments, providing care for students and collegiate athletes.
Athletic training through physical therapy treatments can help you reach your peak performance, whether you’re recovering from an injury or trying to strengthen your skills. A physical therapist is dedicated to helping you reach your goals – and developing new ones! With athletic training programs, your peak performance is something that you and your physical therapist will define, and something that can be grown upon throughout the course of your sessions.
Trademark Performance will be right there with you, every step of the way, until you are able to reach your end goal. If you are interested in reaching your peak performance and learning more about athletic training, contact our South Holland, IL or our Dyer, IN office today for a consultation!
What are the advantages of athletic training?
- Continuity of care – Athletic trainers are health-care personnel who are specifically trained to help diagnose, treat and prevent sports injuries in various settings. Their involvement in school sports and the care of athletes is evidence-based to improve outcomes in general. They are trained to provide care while adhering to a code of ethics, which makes for excellent holistic care. With a return-to-play protocol that requires daily follow-up until an athlete is able to compete, having an athletic trainer available at a school not only lessens cost but also ensures that the return-to-play protocol is followed correctly by just one person — not various health-care providers who may see the student-athlete in clinic one day and then delegating him or her to a colleague on another day.
- Athlete safety – Every year athletes suffer from heat-related injuries, brain injuries, and heart conditions. Athletic operations that are run by certified athletic trainers are able to identify at-risk athletes earlier than schools with no athletic trainers. Heat-related deaths may be prevented by not allowing events to take place when the environmental heat index becomes unsafe, and athletic trainers are trained to monitor this. Furthermore, on the sidelines, athletic trainers constantly stress proper hydration. On hot summer days, athletic trainers monitor the heat index and have the authority to cancel practice if conditions are too dangerous. Athletic trainers also ensure that athletes are properly hydrated, which prevents heat-related deaths.
- Safe return to play – Parents, coaches, athletic directors, and school nurses often learn to work well with athletic trainers, and team physicians often find them indispensable allies in the care of student-athletes. Athletic trainers are able to implement a school’s athletic healthcare system under the guidance of the team physician. They often serve as first-line responders to injuries. Emergency action plans are often implemented by athletic trainers. Along the way to recovery, athletic trainers provide important feedback that guides return-to-play decisions made by the sports medicine team. Programs to help condition athletes and prevent injuries can be created and implemented with the help of athletic trainers. The conditions for the competition can be made ideal with feedback from athletic trainers.
So, what exactly is athletic training?
What many people think of as Sports Medicine is actually Athletic Training. The Certified Athletic Trainer (ATC®) works with physicians and other medical personnel, employers, patients, parents, guardians, and athletic personnel in the development and coordination of efficient and responsive health care delivery systems. Athletic trainers are integral members of the health care team in secondary schools, colleges, and universities, professional sports programs, sports medicine clinics, corporate /industrial, and other health care settings. The athletic trainer’s professional preparation is based on the development of specified educational competencies and clinical proficiencies. Through a combination of formal classroom and clinical instruction and clinical experience, the athletic trainer is prepared to provide health care within each of the following content areas:
- Risk management and injury prevention
- Pathology of injuries and illnesses
- Clinical examination and diagnosis
- Acute care of injury and illness
- Pharmacology
- Therapeutic modalities
- Therapeutic and rehabilitative exercise
- General medical conditions and disabilities
- Nutritional aspects of injury and illness
- Psychosocial intervention and referral
- Health care administration
- Professional development and responsibilities
For more information about the Athletic Training Profession, please visit the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) website at www.nata.org.
Get started with physical therapy:
Our Athletic Trainer Network provides services at many sporting events in our communities, from youth to professional. Our athletic trainers serve as medical professionals caring for athletes in many different settings. Early access to physical therapy is the most important aspect of the recovery process. Our certified athletic trainers work hand-in-hand with our physical therapists and personal trainers, where they gain valuable first-hand experience in the same core principles of Applied Functional Science that drive our practice.
This philosophy and approach to care allow us to achieve accelerated results that are measurable and sustainable while developing more educated and skilled athletic trainers. Since this approach is integrated deeply in the care we provide, we are able to either get your athlete back on the field safely and sooner or communicate to your coaches why your athlete is unable to return.
Our philosophy adapts the idea that every action leads to a reaction, which is especially true for the human body. One faulty part leads to many faulty parts that potentially cause pain, degeneration, injury, or difficulty healing. Trademark Performance athletic trainers have the unique ability to find that faulty part, evaluate how it has affected the rest of the body, and fix it correctly to get your athlete back on the field.
Our goal, however, is not to simply get your athletes back to the sport, but to ensure that they will have a much lower risk of re-injury. By doing this, we foster comfort and confidence in your athletes, coaches, and parents that the athlete will not only return successfully but with optimal safety and performance for years to come.
Many times, physical therapy is a step-by-step process. Each step focuses on realistic goals for you to reach, all leading up to the end goal that you and your physical therapist create together. The physical therapist communicates daily with the certified athletic trainer to ensure a smooth return to sport. Schedule a consultation with one of our physical therapists today to discuss your athletic goals and the steps you’ll need to take to reach them!