Athletic Trainers: The First Wave in Injury Treatment

This week we're covering a licensed healthcare profession that is often confused with an unregulated fitness occupation: Athletic Trainers (not to be mistaken for Personal/Fitness Trainers). Athletic trainers specialize in preventing, diagnosing, & treating muscle & bone injuries & illnesses. These professionals, who numbered approximately 25,400 in the US as of 2014, work in a wide variety of environments to help active & at-risk individuals stay healthy. Athletic trainers work in schools, hospitals, fitness & sports centers, rehab centers, senior living centers, & even as specialists for professional sports teams!

Athletic trainers work with people of all ages & skill levels, from young children to soldiers, police, & professional athletes. Athletic trainers are often the first healthcare professionals on the scene when somebody is injured in an active or athletic environment, & must be trained to provide immediate care while EMTs, doctors, or other health personnel arrive. They work under the direction of a licensed physician & with a team of other healthcare providers to treat patients & evaluate their treatment options. Some athletic trainers have administrative responsibilities as well, like reviewing budgets with an athletic director, working with purchasing or making policies

& procedures. Athletic trainers are frequently called upon to create programs that comply with Federal & state regulations, such as laws surrounding young athletes & concussions. Athletic trainers often work outdoors in many different weather situations, so being adaptable is a key skill. Nearly all states require athletic trainers to be licensed, which generally consists of degree requirements along with continuing education & the passing of an exam.

If you want to learn more about Athletic Trainers & how they impact society, check out our infographic below. We will be posting tons of athletic trainer based content all week on our Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram pages, so be sure to visit them as well to find out all you need to know about these dedicated professionals!

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

NCAA & Antitrust Law: Can Student-Athletes be Paid Professionals?

For those readers who are sports fans, the ongoing courtroom saga of the Ed O'Bannon vs. the NCAA case has been capturing our attention for the past 2 years or so. In this case, a former NCAA basketball player sued the organization that runs collegiate athletics (the NCAA) for the right of student-athletes to receive some form of compensation, more than just athletic scholarships, for the use of their likenesses & names in television & radio broadcasts, video games, & merchandise. The court battle has been fierce & has the potential to completely redefine the American collegiate sports scene, from one clinging to an outdated notion of amateurism to something more representative of the modern age of immediacy & increasing specialization among youth in sports.

Today's decision by the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals partially affirmed & partially reversed the decision of the lower court which it was reviewing. To get a good view of what happened here & what it all means for the future of collegiate athletics, let's break down the decision into more easily digestible parts. In terms of agreeing with the lower court's decision, the 9th Circuit Court determined that the NCAA is in violation of US antitrust laws by restricting payments to student-athletes & must allow member institutions to provide up to the full cost of attendance to these students. The Circuit Court, however, reversed the lower court's decision allowing NCAA member schools to provide $5,000 per year in cash compensation to players to fund non-educational expenses. The Court said that by not tethering this compensation to education, the facade of amateurism was turned into a farce & the NCAA was no longer required to permit member institutions to pay student-athletes this sort of compensation. At the end of the day, both sides took away victories from this ruling, as the NCAA is no longer required to permit schools to pay non-educational compensation to athletes & the Court also affirmed that the NCAA must comply with US antitrust laws.

9th Circuit Court of Appeals

As a big sports fan myself & someone who is interested in the legal & business aspects of both professional & collegiate athletics, I found that the biggest takeaway from this decision was the affirmation that the NCAA must play by the US antitrust laws just the same as all of the rest of the major professional sports leagues in North America. In the past, the MLB, NBA, NHL, & NFL have all had major legal decisions turn against them due largely to one law: the Sherman Antitrust Act. For instance, this law helped the first wave of professional baseball players in the early 1970s break the MLB leadership into allowing free agency in the sport, greatly increasing player freedom & bargaining power in negotiations with team owners. The legal fact, as affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court today, that the NCAA is definitively subject to this powerful law is something that will stay with the organization forever. Regardless of the outcome of this particular legal battle, one which may end up in the Supreme Court, the NCAA will now always be subject to legal & antitrust scrutiny, which may force the organization to open up its policies & become more student-athlete friendly sooner rather than later.