Week 10 Open Post

I started thinking about sports physical therapy and athletic training. The two seemed to be really similar. Every experience that I've had or seen with an athletic trainer they've essentially done the same thing that a physical therapist has done. They try to prevent injuries, treat injuries, and try get an an athlete back to full health. I looked into some of the differences between the two and I learned that there physical therapy and athletic training are actually two very different things.

The first main difference between PT and AT is the education required. Athletic trainers don't have as much school or the same type of schooling as physical therapists. AT's have to get a bachelor's degree and pass a certification test and physical therapists have to get a bachelor's degree and then enter a physical therapy program.

The second difference that was talked about was the working environments. AT's work in sport settings like high schools, clinics, and most likely in an athletic training room. They are outside a lot of the time working directly with teams and individuals on a sports team. AT's also deal with the injury first, they tape, bandage, etc. PT's as I've discussed, work in more of a clinical setting that's more formal. They work with patients individually and work through different exercises to help the patient improve their full range of movement.

From this article, I learned that physical therapy and athletic training are the same in the sense that they work with injuries, but that's all about it.






CITATIONS

Hatcher, Tina. "Athletic Training vs. Physical Therapy." LIVESTRONG-Health. Demand Media, 10 Jan 2014. Web. 27 Mar 2014.