Who’s caring for your kids?

California’s young athletes at risk for serious injury in schools

It’s an undeniable fact: Athletic kids get injured. Sports participation among boys and girls has increased more than 37 percent in the past two decades, and every year more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and over need medical treatment for sport-related injuries including falls, collisions, concussions, heat illness and overexertion, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. And more than 775,000 are treated in emergency rooms.

So what can be done to reduce such accidents and ensure that injured children receive the best possible medical attention? One key would be to provide a certified athletic trainer as part of a comprehensive health care program in secondary schools.

Young athletes who receive immediate care by a certified athletic trainer can have the severity of their injuries reduced. As physical medicine specialists, properly certified athletic trainers can provide a range of services, including injury prevention, immediate evaluation and treatment, and rehabilitation. In some cases, their on-site care, both preventative and immediate, could make the difference between life and death for a young athlete.

An athletic trainer is a necessity, not a luxury.

Schools that hire an unqualified athletic trainer, or those that don’t employ one at all, put their athletes at serious risk for injury or—worse—disability. More than just ankle tapers, properly certified athletic trainers make clinical health care decisions on a daily basis that impact the well-being of kids in their care.

The problem is that California remains one of four states that do not regulate the athletic training profession, meaning anyone can claim to be an “athletic trainer” and treat kids in schools without holding the appropriate credentials. The California Athletic Trainers’ Association is leading a statewide effort to alert school boards to the detrimental issue of unqualified practitioners working with young athletes. Its goal is to ensure that those calling themselves “certified athletic trainers” are recognized by the state and have met necessary educational and clinical training standards.

The CATA urges school boards and administrators to take action now to keep young athletes healthy and safe by assessing their athletic programs and implementing the recommendations defined by an interdisciplinary task force of physicians, nurses, athletic trainers, emergency medicine specialists, other allied health care professionals and safety specialists in a 2004 critical consensus statement on “Appropriate Medical Care for Secondary School-Age Athletes.”

The experts recommend that any organization sponsoring sports programs establish an athletic health care team: a certified athletic trainer, a team physician and/or a school nurse to work closely with the coaching staff to ensure appropriate medical care is provided to all participants during games or practice. School districts can do their homework by asking the following questions:

1. Is the athletic trainer on staff properly certified?

2. Do our schools have a comprehensive health care team?

3. Is on-site medical care provided if an athlete is injured?

4. Do our schools promote safe facilities and maintain appropriate equipment?

5. Have we developed injury and illness prevention strategies?

6. Do our medical experts provide scientifically sound nutritional information?

As a significant part of a school or sports facility’s medical care team, a certified athletic trainer’s role goes beyond managing athletes with catastrophic injuries to include performance training, rehabilitation and many other highly beneficial services. Coaches, although sometimes trained to instruct athletes in proper sports techniques and to administer CPR, are not qualified to offer value equal to that of an athletic trainer—who knows each athlete personally and is familiar with their medical history.

Many medical decisions, such as clearing an athlete to return to play following injury, are left to coaches who mean well but could be tempted, for example, to continue to play a star athlete who is prone to serious injury. Certified athletic trainers have the knowledge to make an accurate evaluation of an injury, and they are removed enough from the play of the game that their primary focus can be the health and safety of young athletes.

Oftentimes, physicians and paramedics are available for varsity football games and possibly a few other sports, depending on the school’s budget. However, injuries occur in sports other than football and in practices as well as games. If certified athletic trainers are on site every day, they will be available for any practice or home game.

CATA checklist

The California Athletic Trainers’ Association provides a checklist to confirm the athletic trainer working with and treating athletes is properly certified by the national Board of Certification.

• Visit www.bocatc.org and click on “Verify Certification” in the left-hand toolbar.

• In the “Online Verification” section, select “click here” to enter the verification page.

• Enter the practitioner’s name and/or state to verify the individual is currently certified.

• This database also includes athletic trainers whose certifications have been suspended or revoked.

Mike West is a certified athletic trainer and assistant principal at Patriot High School in the Jurupa Unified School District in Riverside. He serves as Governmental Affairs chair of the California Athletic Trainers’ Association (www.cata-usa.org).