Among the things which increase the anxiety level of parents of children playing contact or collision sports, or any sport for that matter, is the fact that many high school programs don't employ certified athletic trainers (ATs) who have received training in treating sports injuries, including heat illness, spine and neck injuries, sudden cardiac arrest, and in recognizing the often subtle signs or symptoms of a concussion.
Statistics on the percentage of high schools with athletic trainers vary, but, according to the National Athletic Trainers' Association (1), fewer than 50% of U.S. high schools have access to an AT. In some states, the number is much lower (Over three-quarters of Nebraska high schools, for instance, are without ATs).
The preliminary results of a study (2) presented in October 2012 to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans, LA show that having an AT on staff makes sports safer: overall injury rates were 1.73 times higher among high school soccer players and 1.22 times higher among basketball players in schools without athletic trainers, while recurrent injury rates were 5.7 times higher in soccer and 2.97 times higher in basketball in schools without athletic trainers. In contrast, concussion injury rates were 8.05 times higher in soccer and 4.5 times higher in basketball in schools with athletic trainers.
"Athletic trainers facilitate treatment of injuries and monitor recovery so that athletes are not returned to play prematurely. This likely explains the lower rates of recurrent injuries in schools with athletic trainers," said Cynthia LaBella, MD., FAAP, who presented the study to the AAP conference, in an interview with Science Daily.
Funding is a problem
According to a 2010 University of Michigan poll (3) two-thirds of middle and high school parents surveyed supported a requirement that high schools have an AT onsite for practices and games. The challenge, in an era of shrinking school budgets, is to come up with the money to fund the position:
- 43% thought the money should come from the general school budget;
- 28% believed funds should come from team fundraising or user fees;
- 20% said the state or federal government should fund the AT; and
- 9% felt that volunteer health professionals should be recruited.
The bottom line, as one AT recently remarked, is that if a high school can afford to have an interscholastic sports program, "it had better figure out a way to afford an athletic trainer."
ATs and concussions
Given the increased media attention in recent years on concussions in sports - from the youth level through the pros, the presence of an AT at games and practices in contact or collision sports is particularly critical because:
- In high schools with at least one AT on staff and concussion assessment involved only one medical professional, nearly nine of ten concussions were assessed by an AT and only 9.7% by a primary care physician.
- The AT often sees the athlete on a daily basis, and thus has the opportunity to establish a trusting relationship. This trust is a vital part of the process of evaluating and managing a concussion
- Athletes may be more comfortable reporting symptoms to an AT, who they see on a regular basis, than to a physician they do not see regularly, or to their coach.
- An AT may also be better able to identify subtle signs that an athlete has suffered a concussion because he or she knows the athlete's usual behavior and demeanor.
- An AT is also in best position to perform daily follow-up examinations that allow the AT and team physician to determine when the athlete is symptom-free and determine when he or she may return to play (a 2011 study (4) found that ATs returned athletes to play more quickly than physicians but the differences were not found to be statistically significant.
According to that same study, physicians were on site at the time of only 7.7% of the reported concussions suffered by high school athletes during the 2009-2010 school year, while ATs were on site for at least 70%, and, in where they were present, assessed an athlete for concussion 94.4% of the time. Reassuringly, the same study found that ATs and physicians used similar return to play intervals when managing athletes who have sustained sports-related concussions, although, where the return to play decision was made by a physician, they were more likely than ATs to utilize computerized neuropsychological testing (52.5% versus 35.7%) in making that decision.
An AT is thus essential, and we should work towards the goal of having a certified athletic trainer on staff at every high school in this country.
For the most comprehensive and up-to-date concussion information for sports parents, visit MomsTeam's pioneering Youth Sports Concussion Safety Center.
1. Waxenberg R, Satloff E. Athletic trainers fill a necessary niche in secondary schools. National Athletic Trainers' Association: 2009. Available at: http://www.nata.org/NR031209.
2. LaBella L. A Comparative Analysis of Injury Rates and Patterns Among Girls' Soccer and Basketball Players. Paper presented October 22, 2012 at American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, LA; High Schools with Athletic Trainers Have More Diagnosed Concussions, Fewer Overall Injuries. Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022080649.htm (retrieved February 21, 2013)
3. C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (June 14, 2010)
4. Meehan WP, d'Hemecourt P, Collins C, Comstock RD, Assessment and Management of Sport-Related Concussions in United States High Schools. Am. J. Sports Med. 2011;20(10)(published online on October 3, 2011 ahead of print) as dol:10.1177/0363546511423503 (accessed October 3, 2011).
Revised March 3, 2013
