Athletic Trainers
Athletic trainers have the important job of preventing, diagnosing and treating injures for athletes and industrial workers.
Do you love sports? As an athletic trainer you could be surrounded by them all day every day and get paid for it. Athletic trainers work to prevent and treat sports injuries. They are experts in the assessment, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of bone and muscle injures and diseases. Athletic trainers are actually recognized as allied health professionals by the American Medical Association.
Schedules for athletic trainers vary greatly depending on the specific job and position they have. Most of your time as an athletic trainer will be spent working with others and on location at practice facilities, sporting events and athletic facilities.
As an athletic trainer you will educate athletes, as well as industrial workers, about how to use equipment correctly and exercise in way that builds strength and is safe. You will also use bandages, tape and braces to help people prevent injuries.
Some athletic trainers work under licensed physicians and with other health care professionals and handle things like treatment options, administrative tasks, policies, budgets and other business decisions.
To be successful in this career you will need a bachelor’s degree and almost every state requires athletic trainers to be licensed or registered. Employment opportunities for athletic trainers is expected to grow quickly. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average salary for people in this career is about $39,000 while some make more than $60,000.