What is Athletic Therapy?
Certified Athletic Therapists are best known for their quick-thinking on-field emergency care of professional and elite athletes. The first to respond when someone gets hurt, they are experts at injury assessment and rehabilitation. It’s that same mix of on-site care and active rehabilitation skills that makes Athletic Therapists so effective in treating the musculoskeletal (muscles, bones, and joints) injuries of all Canadians, whether on the field or in the clinic.
Athletic therapists adhere to the Sports Medicine Model of care. They treat a wide range of patients, from kids with concussions to seniors recovering from hip replacement surgery, using various manual therapies, modalities, exercise prescription and even bracing and taping. The treatment varies but the objective doesn’t: an Athletic Therapist's goal is to help clients return to their usual activities, whether that means playing competitive sports or walking to the mailbox and back.
Certified Athletic Therapists can be recognized by the credential CAT(C).
Scope of Practice
The scope of practice of a Certified Athletic Therapist starts with the in-depth knowledge, education and training in the areas of the human musculoskeletal system, exercise physiology, biomechanics, and basic emergency care. Within this, the scope of practice is divided into five practice domains representing the core areas of competency that the CATA accredited institutions follow in educating Certification Candidates to become entry level, practicing Certified Athletic Therapists.
Scope of Practice is divided into 5 Domains
1) Prevention
2) Assessment
3) Intervention
4) Practice Management
5) Professional Responsibility
What is the difference between an Athletic Therapist and a Physiotherapist?
Athletic Therapists are trained in emergency first response for immediate care of an individual and provide an in depth assessment of both acute and chronic injuries.
Rehabilitation techniques include manual hands on treatment, therapeutic modalities such as ultrasound and TENS and physical reconditioning.
Prevention of injury including prophylactic and supportive taping, postural evaluations, equipment fitting, functional assessments and patient specific conditioning programs
Despite the name, Athletic Therapy is not just for athletes though and many athletic therapists work with patients from work injuries to car accidents and elderly populations as examples.
Athletic Therapy and Physiotherapy are two distinct professional designations, but share much of the same scope of practice and knowledge when it comes to musculoskeletal injuries.
Athletic Therapists focus solely on musculoskeletal injuries and disorders, where as physiotherapists have a broader scope which includes cardio-respiratory rehabilitation, geriatrics, stroke rehab and other neurological disorders.
Physiotherapists have a scope of practice to treat a wide range of clients of all ages, as well as varying levels of activity. Their formal education focuses on the study of neurology, cardiology/cardiopulmonary and orthopedics. They also have the ability to specialize and focus on manual therapy, vestibular therapy, pelvic floor, cardio-respiratory rehabilitation, burn patients, pediatrics, pediatrics, stroke and neurological disease rehabilitation.
