Athletic Therapy is the prevention, immediate care, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries by an Athletic Therapist. It involves assessment of physical function, treatment of dysfunction caused by pain and/or injury to develop, maintain, and maximize independence, and prevent dysfunction. User groups for this service are varied and may include, but are not limited to, individuals with musculoskeletal injuries who may be active individuals, injured workers, auto accident injuries, recreational athletes, professional athletes, and competitive amateur athletes.
Athletic therapists (also known as athletic trainers, sports therapists, or biokinetics) currently employed in many sports medicine settings, including:
universities and colleges
ATs work with collegiate athletes providing expertise in injury prevention, acute and emergency care, injury evaluation and rehabilitation, as well as conditioning program development. Many athletic therapists also teach related subjects at various academic institutions.
professional sports
ATs are currently employed by professional teams in the NHL, CFL, NBA, MLB, NWHL, NLL, as well as professional dance companies. These therapists are responsible for injury prevention, emergency and acute injury care, comprehensive injury evaluation and rehabilitation, and development of conditioning programs.
National Athletes
ATs are an integral part of the ongoing care of national athletes. Athletic Therapists work directly with the team or are selected to the medical teams for games such as; Olympic Games; Bread Am; Commonwealth; World Cup etc
Private Sports Medicine Clinics
A growing number of ATs own or work in fee-for-service clinics, which treat a variety of injuries and conditions. Treatment will include injury evaluation and rehabilitation, as well as conditioning programs for all active individuals.
The average income depends on the jurisdiction and the types of practice. It typically ranges from $41,000 to $78,000. Depending on the jurisdiction, these health professionals charge from $40 to $60 per treatment session or from $75 to $140 per hour of treatment.
AT Practitioners are highly-skilled healthcare professionals, with a scope of practice similar to that of physical therapists who provide immediate treatment for musculoskeletal injuries. ATs employs a sports medicine model of rehabilitation for physical injuries sustained from sports, recreation, accidents, daily activities, or occupation. Early exercise prescription is often given to aggressively heal soft tissue injuries and to maintain/increase mobility.
Treatments offered are always one on one and usually 30 to 60 minutes in length. Treatments consist of manual therapy, including soft tissue therapy and joint mobilization, core strengthening and therapeutic exercise prescription, supportive taping and braces, postural correction, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, neuromuscular retraining, nutritional counseling and supplement recommendation, and the use of traditional modalities (ultrasound, IFC, TENS, laser, NMES). These health professionals also use almost every modality available to physical therapists.
Many extended health plans cover these treatments with a doctor’s referral.
To become a certified sports therapist, graduates of accredited universities must successfully pass the sports therapy board exams administered by the International Board of Certified Sports Therapists (IBCAT). Upon successful completion of the board exams; graduates are allowed to use the titles: CAT, DIBCAT; which stands for Certified Athletic Therapists, Diplomate of the International Board of Certified Athletic Therapists.
With a CAT, DIBCAT degree, sports therapists can work as sports therapists everywhere; including USA (all states), Canada (all provinces), Australia (all provinces), New Zealand, UK, South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, India, China, Spain , France, Italy, Latvia, Iran and the Netherlands.
