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Counting Down Top 8 Questions An Athletic Trainer Is Asked

Counting Down Top 8 Questions An Athletic Trainer Is Asked
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These are the top questions I’m sure every Athletic Trainer has been asked. I decided to show the questions and share my answers with you:

(cue the David Letterman drum roll)

1.  What’s the worst injury you have ever seen?

A: This question always takes a while for me to answer. How do you define ” worst ” ? The Bloodiest? Season Ending Injuries? Scariest? Something I have seen on TV that got me the most excited?

-The bloodiest injury I have seen was a gymnastics one. Sometimes I feel the craziest injures happen when the athletes are not even practicing/playing. The gymnastics girls were setting up the gym for the season, and I had girls running down to me looking like they have seen a ghost. They told me that while they were taking a board down from storage, the corner hit a little 8th grander in the back of the head and she was “Bleeding Out”. Dramatic much? I get that heads bleed, but she was not going to bleed out! I will admit, when I got up to her, she looked like a scene from Carrie. This was way worse looking than it actually was. We got her as cleaned up as we could (her hair and clothes were soaked with blood) and had her hold pressure on the spot until she got to the hospital to get it stitched up. Poor girl didn’t go back to practice after that day.

-Just to list SOME season ending injuries I have seen: ACL tears, Concussions, Fractures, Shoulder dislocations-leading to Rotator Cuff tears, and some breaks.

-Scariest injury has probably been when a ref at wrestling had a seizure and I had to provide care until the EMT’s got to the school.

-Best injury I saw on TV was the famous Kevin Ware leg break…that thing was a site to see!

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2.  Do you organize all the uniforms and stuff? 

A: Um NO! I did not go to school for 4 years to do laundry.

3.  So are you like the same as the water boy? The ones that squirt water into football players mouths?

A:  I do not touch the water here at Sibley. I make sure that they stay hydrated enough and encourage multiple water breaks. The players are responsible for there own water, and Sibley has younger kids come to the football games to keep the water bottles filled. They love it, being on the sideline and a part of the team. I am too busy at games as the only ATC on site to be messing with water.

4.  How are you different from a Physical Therapist?

A: Physical Therapist and Athletic Trainers do have a lot of similarities. The biggest difference I can see is that Therapists specialize a lot in rehab and treatment. Athletic Trainers utilize first aid and initial injury skills more. ATs are on the sidelines as first responders and we evaluate injuries as they happen. We don’t have patient schedules, the kids come pouring in all at the same time needing injury care. We also do not have a set schedule. PTs usually work Monday-Friday 9-5 (or some variation of a 40 hour work week). Ats do not have a set schedule. We work when the teams work. If there is a rescheduled game that none tells you about, you bet we are responsible to cover it. If there is a tourney over the weekend, you bet we work with no days off. Football has 2 a days from 8-2, soccer 1-3, and vb 3-7, you bet we are at the school all day covering them all!

5.  Did you have to go to school for this?

A: Yes, of course I went to school for this. I would be scared if we let uncertified and untrained people care for injuries. At’s that work in the high school setting are required to get at least an undergrad degree in Athletic Training, and then are required to pass a boards test. We are BOC certified as well as “licensed” in the state we work in. In school we had to maintain a B or BETTER grade point average in our AT classes or we were booted from the program. We had written exams, as well as clinical exams that tested our skills on the scene. We were required to follow the schedule of the teams, so often times when my friends had free weekends, I was traveling with the teams.

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6. What is the thing you do more often than anything else?

A: Probably tape, and listening to drama.

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7.  Would you like to work with college or pro athletes instead of High School?

A: I love working in the high school setting! I would not want to commit myself to the schedule and traveling lifestyle working with any higher sports teams. I like to be around my home, and I do not like to travel that much. Having extreme motion sickness would make traveling truly miserable for me. I love my kids here and I love the support of OSI.

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8. So if I go to a gym are you the one who shows us how to work out?

A: No. Athletic Trainers are NOT personal trainers. Personal trainers work with people who seek out help to better their lifestyle through health. Athletic Trainers are required to get a degree through an accreted program, and then sit for their boards.

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I posted in an earlier blog about “What Athletic Trainers Are” and here is a quick sum up of it: “What exactly is an Athletic Trainer?” No we do not “train” athletes in the weight room to get them ready for play; although we could set up a program for athletes of all ages, for multiple purposes, ranging from injury rehab, to strength training. Our title should actually be more like “Athletic Injury Health Provider”, but when a player is down, calling out, “trainer” rolls of the tongue a little easier!

Please refer back to this post if you are still confused on the differences between AT’s, Personal Trainers, and Physical Therapists. 

I would love to hear your answers if you are an athletic trainer and I would love to hear any other questions you have for me!

Below are some links to some sites to show how important it is to have Athletic Trainers on the sidelines!

http://www.nata.org/NR031209

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics-programs/orthopedics/services/athletic-trainers-program/

http://www.nationwidechildrens.org/news-room-articles/new-study-finds-25-million-basketball-injuries-to-high-school-athletes-in-six-seasons?contentid=126102

– Alli