More Than the Sideline: The Role of Athletic Trainers in Orthopedics
When most people picture an athletic trainer, they imagine someone standing on the sidelines of a football game wearing khaki pants, ready to run onto the field when an athlete gets hurt. While that image isn’t entirely wrong, it barely scratches the surface of what athletic trainers actually do—especially in the orthopedic world.
To truly understand the role of an athletic trainer (AT), it helps to first understand our education and training.
The Evolution of Athletic Training Education
In recent years, athletic training has transitioned to a master’s-level degree program. This change was made to align the profession with other healthcare fields such as nursing, physician assistants, and rehabilitation specialists. The shift reflects the depth of knowledge and clinical training required to practice effectively in modern healthcare settings.
Along with the educational transition, there has been a broader push to ensure athletic trainers are recognized for what they are: healthcare professionals specializing in orthopedic injury care.
These efforts have helped improve public understanding of the profession, but many people still associate athletic trainers primarily with sports sidelines.
Athletic Trainers Work Far Beyond Sports
While athletic trainers are commonly seen in traditional sports settings, the profession extends well beyond athletics. ATs can work in a wide variety of environments, including:
- Industrial settings helping prevent and manage workplace injuries
- Performing arts working with dancers, musicians, and performers
- Healthcare administration supporting clinical operations
- Military and tactical settings caring for service members
- Orthopedic clinics and physician practices
The common thread across all of these environments is movement and injury. Athletic trainers specialize in orthopedic injuries, meaning anyone who is active—whether an athlete, factory worker, dancer, or weekend warrior—may benefit from their expertise.
The Role of Athletic Trainers in Orthopedic Clinics
Since most of my experience is in clinical practice, let’s take a closer look at what athletic trainers do inside an orthopedic medical practice.
Even within a single clinic, athletic trainers can have a wide range of roles. In my current workplace, athletic trainers serve as:
- Clinic coordinators running orthopedic clinics
- Residency-trained surgical athletic trainers
- Healthcare administrators managing operations
Because athletic trainers spend four to six years in school focusing heavily on orthopedic-based care, it makes sense that they are involved at nearly every level of an orthopedic practice.
From the outside looking in, it may appear that the orthopedic surgeon is directing every aspect of your care. In reality, there is often a team working behind the scenes to make that care possible—and athletic trainers are frequently central to coordinating those moving parts.
The Behind-the-Scenes Experts
This isn’t meant to diminish the incredible work of orthopedic surgeons and physician assistants. They play a critical and demanding role in patient care.
But the athletic trainers working alongside them are often the ones ensuring that everything runs smoothly. They coordinate care, manage patient flow, communicate with different departments, and help guide patients through each stage of the orthopedic process—from injury evaluation to surgery and rehabilitation.
In many practices, athletic trainers serve as the connective tissue of the orthopedic team.
Surgical Athletic Trainers and Residencies
Some athletic trainers take their training even further by completing an athletic training residency. These programs typically involve an additional year of specialized education and hands-on experience focused on surgical orthopedics.
During this year, athletic trainers gain deeper exposure to surgical procedures, perioperative care, and complex orthopedic conditions. This additional training allows them to work closely with surgeons and play a key role in surgical coordination, patient education, and postoperative care.
A Profession Still Growing
Athletic training continues to evolve as healthcare changes. As the profession grows and educational standards rise, athletic trainers are increasingly becoming recognized as integral members of the healthcare team—especially in orthopedics.
We are still fighting the good fight in the hospital world. It continues to be a problem for healthcare systems to effectively see athletic trainers as providers in care. While we are effectively experts and have working NPI numbers, we are considered equal to a MA on paper. We may get paid slightly more but our practice parameters are effectively guided by insurance and to date there are very few insurances who reimburse for athletic training services.
So next time you are at the orthopedic office, please don’t call me a nurse!
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