Bringing It Back Together

As the landscape of the athletic training settings keeps increasing into different environments what is going to be the common glue that keep us all stuck together, other than a common name? We are all quickly expanding and practicing in different territories, which require patient demographic specialization, but how do we prevent disconnection from what unites us as athletic trainers?

Should we use the American Physical Therapy Association and its division into different specialties as a weary tale, or should we embrace the change? In the APTA, each specialization requires additional education, training, and successful completion of a certification exam. These specialties were created to advance the profession of physical therapy by establishing, maintaining, and promoting standards of excellence for clinical specialization, and by recognizing the advanced knowledge, skills, and experience of physical therapist practitioners through specialist credentialing.

Our athletic training services settings currently range from:

• Occupational Health

• Industrial Health

• Fitness & Performance

• Military & Armed Forces

• Physician Practice & Hospitals

• Public Safety

• Performing Arts

• Collegiate Sports

• Secondary Schools

• Professional Sports

• Youth Athletic Clubs

• Private & Emerging Practice

• Community Outreach

• Rehabilitation & Clinic

• Health Care administration

What would be the best way to navigate this wide spread of specialty care while keeping us united?