Sports Medicine Keeps You On The Field

To the layperson, sports medicine may seem like it should be no different than any other type of medical work. Much to the contrary, working with athletes and treating the specific injuries and ailments they suffer is very much a specialized line of work.

Sports medicine as it is most commonly defined is a sub-speciality of a general health practice that applies both medical experience and scientific knowledge to the specific conditions that most commonly affect athletes. This not only involves treating and rehabilitating these injuries, but also preventing and recognizing them as well as managing them once they have occurred.

The most common figure within the field of sports medicine is a Certified Athletic Trainer, or ATC. This person is a trained and skilled medical professional that works closely with an athletic team or individual athletes and is a direct employee of a team, school or individual that is competing in a given sport. Depending on the setting, this person often serves as a liaison between the injured individual and a parent or guardian, coaches or team doctors.

The primary roles of an ATC begin with always being present during team or individual activities to be available to administer first aid and other related care when necessary. This includes always having the necessary materials to perform first aid on site and being fully prepared to respond immediately to all types of injuries suffered while playing the given sport. If an injury is suffered, the ATC is also the point person for not only designing and helping implement a plan for rehabilitation, but also assisting the athlete in completing this work.

Because many sports and other types of athletics are fundamentally the same in terms of the physical skills and movements they involve, the types of injuries suffered during competition are often common across the board. Those who specialize in sports medicine are explicitly trained to not only help prevent against these injuries through preventative methods such as stretching, but also to recognize them and help rehabilitate them efficiently.

Perhaps the most prominent example of this is the concussion, which is a head injury that results from severe trauma to the head that causes the brain to impact with the skull. Greater emphasis has recently been placed on preventing concussions as well as treating them properly so as not to aggravate the condition by allowing athletes to return too soon after suffering one. ATCs are often the point person when it comes to evaluating an individual following a concussion and determining when it is safe for him or her to return to action.

Sports medicine is an important profession both for those who play sports and those who root for the individual athlete and teams who do. Without it, no sport would be what it is today.