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The Complications Athletic Trainers Really See

Athletic trainers work for high school and college teams, with professional athletes, and in clinics. They treat all kinds of injuries, mostly using the basic tools of ice, heat, electrical stimulation, and special exercises.

These authors wanted to know what kinds of complications athletes have from these common treatments. So they asked the experts. They sent out questionnaires to certified athletic trainers and got more than 900 answers. Twenty-six percent of the trainers reported complications, including burns, frostbite, allergic reactions, fainting, and irregular heartbeats. Ice treatments accounted for most of the problems, followed by electrical stimulation, heat, and special exercises.

Not surprisingly, the treatments used most often by a trainer were the ones for which he or she reported the most complications. The authors also note that experience seemed to matter. Head athletic trainers reported the lowest rate of complications, while assistant athletic trainers reported the highest rate.

The complications reported in this study were quite different than the complications written up in medical research. A survey of the research showed mostly problems with whirlpools.

The authors aren't sure why there are such major differences between their questionnaire and the research. They suggest it is possible that athletic trainers don't actually use whirlpools that often, or that they learned from the medical literature how to use whirlpools without complications. It is also possible that most complications are not reported for some reason. The authors recommend that future research focus on which trainers in which settings have the most complications.

References: Scott F. Nadler, DO, et al. Complications from Therapeutic Modalities: Results of a National Survey of Athletic Trainers. In Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. June 2003. Vol. 84. No. 6. Pp. 849-853.

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