Literary Review

The Evolution of Sports Medicine Athletic Training

There are two types of Athletic Training. One is seen as a coach instructing or teaching an
exercise, the other is inury prevention and reha!ilitation" otherwise #now as Sports Medicine. Sports
Medicine is i$portant, to athletes and the sports the$selves, !ecause the professionals in this field are
in charge of the safety of the sport and the over all health of athletes. This review%s goal is to explain
and show ways in which sports $edicine has evolved over the years. This area continues to find new
and !etter ways to #eep athletes safe and healthy in their sport. &reviously, this area did not re'uire as
$uch $edical involve$ent or #nowledge ()elforge *+. ,nury prevention and reha!ilitation athletic
training added $ore $edical involve$ent to its field which helped for$ the na$e Sports Medicine. ,t
has co$e a long way fro$ where it started. -ow a days, it is $andatory for all sports to have Athletic
Trainers on sports tea$ staff and present at all practices and co$petitions as $andated !y the -ational
Athletic Trainers Association (-ATA+ and all sports organi.ations. Athletic Training has expanded and
seen tre$endous success as $ore $edical experience and involve$ent has !een incorporated. The
Sports Medicine athletic trainers wor# with athletes to educate the$ on proper and safe techni'ues of a
sport to hopefully prevent an inury fro$ occurring, as well as, after evaluating an inury, explaining
what is inured, and create a recovery progra$.
The field of Sports Medicine Athletic Training speciali.es in helping athletes regain full health
and strength as well as create ways to prevent an inury fro$ ever occurring. ,n order for the trainer to
help an athlete recover, there has to !e a sense of trust !etween the two individuals. The athlete $ust
trust that the trainer #nows what they are doing and will get the$ !ac# out to play as soon as possi!le.
/Argua!ly, the #ey factor influencing the effectiveness of the reha!ilitation process is the inured
athletes co$$it$ent to their progra$ and the a!ility of the AT0s to enhance that co$$it$ent1 (0raig
*+. A side fro$ the actual reha!ilitation treat$ent, in order for the recovery to !e successful, !oth the
athlete and the trainer need to understand one another and !e willing and co$$itted to the process.
Athletes should trust their trainers !ecause of all the years of research and develop$ent have !een
dedicated to this field of study. Even $ore so the Trainers should !e trusted !ecause the trainers have
used these $ethods and had success with getting other athletes to a full recovery. The $ethods used are
not set in stone steps, !ut are created uni'uely for each individual athlete. This is one way in which
Sports Medicine continues to i$prove on old $ethods.
This continuation of advance$ent and i$prove$ent in Sports Medicine is carried out in $any
ways. One of which includes conducting studies of the trainers in the profession. An exa$ple of a study
conducted for i$prove$ent in the field is a 'uestionnaire that was given to athletic trainers. The
'uestionnaire assessed the $ental attitudes and udg$ents trainers have and if that has an affect on the
presu$ed inury reha!ilitation. This su!ect is i$portant !ecause attitudes affect the actions of how an
athlete will go a!out doing what the trainer suggest. /The 'uestionnaire consisted of sixty state$ents
that were categori.ed into seven scales2 Athletic trainers influence, environ$ental influence, athletes
personality, pain tolerance, self $otivation, goals and incentives and significant others1 (0raig *+. 3eed
fro$ 'uestionnaire studies li#e this help the profession evaluate areas that need i$prove$ent and
contri!utes in the continual evolution and advance$ent in Athletic training. Another exa$ple of how
the field continues to i$prove is its research on water replace$ent for athletes. There are !oth !enefits
and disadvantages of hydration. 4ithout the research that was done on hydration a lot of athletes would
not #now that they continually need to replace the fluids in there !odies. Since Athletes sweat $ore,
they need to drin# $ore. 5ut they also need to #eep in $ind there is a possi!ility of over hydration as
well. Over hydration or the consu$ption of too $uch water has serious side effects as well. (0asa *+.
The health and $aintenance of an athletes !ody is a crucial role in their sport perfor$ance. Sports
$edicine professionals not only wor# with the physical athlete !ut also with every sport and all the
sport enco$passes.
Athletic trainers not only deal with the inury prevention and reha!ilitation, they also loo# at the
safety and standards of the sport and the environ$ent it is held in. 5efore the -ational Athletic Trainers
Association (-ATA+ created safety regulations of sports, there was not anything to stop a sport fro$
playing in unsafe conditions. 6ust as the association created the state$ent on water replace$ent and
how it has !eco$e a standard to #eep hydration $aintained, the develop$ent of sport safety has also
!eco$e a standard. These professionals, in the continual advance$ent of this field, figured out that not
only ca$e the athlete inure the$selves !ut the environ$ent can play a !ig factor in the cause of an
inury.
4hether these professionals are dealing with weather extre$es, over all health or inuries, we
#now that the $ethods !eing used are the $ost up to date and efficient ways of dealing with the
situations. 5y conducting studies and giving out 'uestionnaires, Sports Medicine is a!le to continue to
advance and !etter the profession. Although so$e of the things $entioned $ay see$ li#e co$$on
scenes, for the $aority of the ti$e, these things are not ta#en into consideration or cared for. Athletic
Trainers play an i$portant role in sports !ecause they ta#e care of the athletes environ$ental,
e$otional and physical !eing. The o!s of these trainers have !eco$e greater in i$portance due to the
reali.ation in how helpful they are in this area. 5ecause of the wor# they do and the continual research,
inury ris# and over all health and safety of athletes continue to i$prove. The desire these professionals
have to continually i$prove this field will $a#e Sports Medicine continually advancing with success
and evolving for the !etter$ent of athletes and their sports.
Works Cited
3isher, A. 0raig, Sharon A. Mullins, and &atricia A. 3rye. "Athletic Trainers' Attitudes and
Judgments of Injured Athletes' Rehabilitation Adherence." 6ournal of athletic training 78.*
(*99:+2 4e!. 7; March 7<*=
>ary ). )elforge, and Ro!ert S. 5ehn#e. "The History and Evolution of Athletic Training Education
in the nited !tates." 6ournal of Athletic Training :=.* (*999+2 ?:. 4e!. 7; March 7<*=
)ouglas 6. 0asa, Lawrence E. Ar$strong, Susan @. Aill$an, Scott 6. Montain, Ralph B. Reiff, 5rent S.
E. Rich, 4illia$ O. Ro!erts, and 6ennifer A. Stone. ""ational Athletic Trainers' Association
#osition !tatement$ %luid Re&lacement for Athletes." 6ournal of athletic training :?.7 (7<<<+2
7*7. 4e!. = April 7<*=
, found unit three very frustrating. , understand we had to write a literature review over su!ects
in our field of study. , had the $ost trou!le with considering $y class or instructor $y audience as
opposed to $y field of study. , felt as though so$e of the co$$ents on $y paper were silly !ecause ,
felt as though they were explained decently. , felt li#e when correcting $y paper it was $ore so of a
science li#e response 'uestion where everything has to !e detailed fro$ its origin and the why 'uestion
of every little detail needed to !e spelled out in lay$anCs ter$s. , felt as though , had to change $y
audience ust for the the grade. 4here as the audience , was originally writing to would have
understood. , feel as though even a person curious a!out the field, had an interest and was loo#ing into
it would have understood as well. 5ut this $ay ust !e !ecause , thin# differently. 5ac# to the unit, ,
ad$it this was a struggle. , tend to not li#e things , donCt understand and , was very stressed and
confused this unit. , honestly can%t say , fully understand how to write a literature review. ,n a way , felt
li#e , was going at this !lindly. The : /$oves1 for writing a literature review helped a little with getting
$y ideas in place and a su!ect to focus on.
On the !right side, , thin# the allotted ti$e was very appropriate. Although , had so$e personal
conflicts in this unit, , #now if events were different it was all pretty $anagea!le. , also enoyed doing
the little !it of research if articles for $y field. , hate reading !ut !ecause , could relate to the articles
and understood what was going on it $ade it a lot $ore enoya!le.
,%$ glad , now have an idea of what a literature review is though now. , feel as though , could
potentially enoy reading so$e of the$ on other su!ect ust to learn a!out what other thing as area out
there. A suggestion , would $a#e would !e to $ay!e do so$e sort of practice exercise with the
literature review paper. , donCt really #now, ,%$ not the professional, !ut for $e and !eing.