Op-Ed from Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virgina (December 12, 2009)

State needs the services of professional athletic trainers

Earlier this fall Kevin Telles, a football player at Garden Grove High School in Orange County, California, died following what people called a “freak injury” he received during a football game. His teammates said Kevin was in good shape, he was a team leader, and he loved football more than just about anything else in his life.

The young man’s death was highly unusual but not unique.

In fact, after his death local officials recalled that a player at Costa Mesa High School, another school in that county, had died in September 2001. That player had complained to coaches about feeling a headache and nausea before he collapsed and lost consciousness. He died the next morning.

Closer to West Virginia, many of us followed a recent story that involved a former Kentucky high school football coach who was charged – and later found not guilty - in the death of a player who collapsed during a hot, summer practice. The coach had put his team through a series of “gassers” - sprints designed to improve players’ endurance. The player reportedly died of heat stroke, sepsis and multiple organ failure.

Participation involves risk

Participating in sports is, and will probably always be, part of West Virginia’s and America’s way of life. But there is a sobering side to being an athlete. Participation in sports involves risk. Getting and staying in safe physical shape is challenging for people at any age.

In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find any “serious athlete” in West Virginia who has not experienced an injury. Studies have shown that, every year, roughly a third of the country’s high school student-athletes experience some type of athletic injury. Fortunately, the majority of the injuries are not considered “serious.” But even minor injuries should be treated promptly and properly.

Considering the relatively low percentage of serious accidents that take place, a person could reasonably say that coaches (and players) generally do an effective job of recognizing serious injuries. But sadly and realistically, athletes are always going to incur injuries. And tragically, some can be life-threatening.

So we in West Virginia should ask ourselves a sensible question: What can we do to minimize the risk of serious, even life-threatening, injuries to our athletes?

One of the first, and most obvious, answers is that we should make sure that, whenever possible, highly qualified health care professionals – people who understand sports injuries and understand how to monitor sports activity – are on hand when athletes are training and participating in high-risk sports.

Athletic trainers are those qualified individuals.

The roles athletic trainers play

Athletic trainers are health-care professionals who spent a minimum of four-to-six years studying the art and the science of dealing with injuries and rehabilitation. Athletic training encompasses the prevention, diagnosis, and intervention of emergency, acute, and chronic medical conditions involving impairment, functional limitations, and disabilities. Athletic trainers work with physically active people of all ages and, perhaps most importantly, with our youth.

Athletic trainers often collaborate with physicians. And more than 70 percent of certified athletic trainers hold at least a master’s degree. To become certified athletic trainers, students must graduate with bachelors or masters degree from an accredited professional athletic training education program and pass a comprehensive test administered by the Board of Certification.  Once certified, they must meet ongoing continuing education requirements in order to remain certified. (Athletic trainers are vastly different than personal trainers.)

In a nutshell, athletic trainers specialize in treating sports injuries, and they know what to do when an emergency takes place. Would an athletic trainer be in position to stop a life-threatening situation from happening on a football field? In some cases, yes. Could an athletic trainer (if one were not on hand) have helped prevent the deaths of any of the previously mentioned athletes? Maybe.

Athletic trainers understand and look for warning signs. Is it too hot? Is a specific exercise or training action more than some athletes can handle? Is an injury to an athlete too serious to allow him or her to return to action? These are questions that athletic trainers know how to answer. Athletic trainers, therefore, should be on hand as often as possible when sports events and practices are taking place.

But we have two basic hurdles to cross in West Virginia.

Athletic trainers should be licensed in West Virginia; the Legislature must act

 The first hurdle is political in nature. Whereas the state’s athletic trainers are degreed professionals that have passed all appropriate certification tests, our state does not officially recognize athletic trainers. Unlike 46 other states, West Virginia doesn’t “license” athletic trainers.

Every other comparable health care profession in West Virginia receives licensing and certification, but not athletic trainers.

Licensing is important because athletic trainers should be identified and respected for who they are and for the skills and knowledge they offer. Their jobs should be properly defined in State Code, and schools should be encouraged to employ athletic trainers as often as possible.

Put in its simplest terms, parents can feel much safer about their children’s athletic careers if athletic trainers are on hand to monitor the activities of a school’s athletes.

The West Virginia Legislature must act to make licensing happen – and it should, as soon as possible. As noted, not only does every West Virginia border state has licensure for athletic trainers, we are one of only four states in the country that does not offer licensure. Alaska, Hawaii and California are the others.

The second hurdle toward creating a safer environment for our student-athletes

The second hurdle involves convincing school systems that they should require licensed athletic trainers to be available at sports practices and events.

The West Virginia Department of Education now offers a roughly one-hour clinic that allows adults to become “state certified” as an “athletic trainer.” The well-intentioned program was introduced to encourage school systems to have certified individuals on hand to help deal with emergencies involving athletes.

The problem is that the Department is offering only a brief clinic, no longer in duration than a basic CPR course. The clinic also leads to a wrongly named designation: athletic trainer. The Department of Education course, though beneficial, doesn’t remotely compare with the accredited, higher-education programs that true athletic trainers complete.

Again, the Department of Education’s certification program is well-intentioned. But the young athletes of West Virginia should receive better care.

Professional athletic trainers can provide that service.

Joe Blauser