Schwartz: Requiring Use Of Certified Athletic Trainers Key To Protecting Our Young Athletes
By Peter Schwartz
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When you watch a game at the professional or college level and a player gets hurt, it doesn't take long for a trainer or doctor to race onto the field to take care of the athlete. Depending on the severity of the injury, the player is either helped off the field, taken to the locker room for X-rays or even to a hospital.
Things are different at the youth level.
A majority of high schools in New Jersey have a certified athletic trainer, but there are very few schools in New York that follow suit. For many high schools and teams at the club, little league or pee-wee levels, the only recourse available when an athlete gets hurt is calling an EMT.
If a leading expert in sports medicine and injury prevention gets his way, that would change in the near future.
"If we can do it for the pros and we can do it for the college kids, how come we're not doing it for the high school, academy and club levels?" said John Gallucci Jr., president and CEO of JAG Physical Therapy and an advocate of mandating the use of certified athletic trainers at the youth sports level.
Gallucci has been advocating the use of certified athletic trainers for years, but his push is gaining a lot of steam given the types of injuries that have recently made news in our area. His goal is to get legislation passed in both New York and New Jersey that would require certified athletic trainers to be at all athletic events.
"The issues that are coming about now based on cardiac, concussions, heat illness and various other issues that can take place in an emergency situation at a youth field, high school field and a college field should always have a significant coverage of medical personnel," said Gallucci, a certified athletic trainer for the last 25 years.
According to the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA), certified athletic trainers are "health care professionals who collaborate with physicians. The services provided by ATs comprise prevention, emergency care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation of injuries and medical conditions. ATs work under the direction of physicians, as prescribed by state licensure statutes."
As a parent of two boys who play youth sports, the risk of injury is always a concern, and you want to make sure they are given the proper care in the event that something happens. This could be anywhere from the smallest of injuries, such as a sprained ankle, sprained knee or muscle strain, to a true emergency, such as cardiac, concussion or another illness.
In some cases, there could be a parent or coach that may be equipped to help take care of the child, but having a licensed professional on hand is a much better scenario.
"I feel strongly that certified athletic trainers can get care to an athlete that may be in distress quicker and ultimately even possibly save a life and maybe even diagnose or evaluate quicker to get an individual to the specialist that they need," said Gallucci, who serves as medical coordinator for Major League Soccer and was the head trainer for the New York Red Bulls.
Gallucci is not suggesting that youth sports programs need to hire a full-time professional, but rather use a service that provides per diem and/or part-time athletic trainers. His company, JAG Physical Therapy, is one of many in the area that can provide certified athletic trainers to youth sports organizations.
Now the big question: Who pays for it?
"Clubs that have done it have just increased their dues nominally to try and get the appropriate coverage," said Gallucci.
Gallucci noted that there is a community football league in Essex County, New Jersey, that mandated that the home team facilitate an athletic trainer. Other programs in our area could follow suit, but some parents may have an issue with the higher registration fees.
They really shouldn't. In fact, they should probably get their priorities in order.
"You're going to tell me that the safety and health of our athletes at the youth level isn't more important than a brand new pair of sneakers every three months?" said Gallucci.
In his push for legislation, Gallucci has been calling around, sending out emails and getting the word out through the media about how important it is to take the necessary steps to protect our young athletes.
So far the response has been good.
"The ball is rolling," said Gallucci. "We need to get some parents and community leaders behind the ball to truly push it down the hill."
Having certified athletic trainers at youth sports events makes all the sense in the world. There isn't a physician who would ever oppose having a licensed professional on the field. There isn't a parent who wouldn't want their child to have the best possible care. And there isn't a coach who wouldn't want to have that responsibility on his or her plate.
It doesn't matter if it's a small cut on a child's hand, a broken bone or a concussion. We need to make sure that young athletes are taken care of in the best possible way.
Follow Peter on Twitter at @pschwartzcbsfan. Follow John Gallucci at @DrJAGPT and JAG Physical Therapy at @jag_pt1.
