January 30, 2025 | Net Health
11 min read
Athletic Training vs Physical Therapy: What’s the Difference?
The health and medical industry is filled with several different types of health professionals, which is great! More specialists often means better care for injuries and ailments. However, determining who should care for various injuries can be confusing. For instance, is it better to work with a physical therapist (PT) for recovery and rehabilitation or an athletic trainer (AT)?
If you’re unsure, we’re here to provide some much-needed clarity. We’ll discuss what the scope of practice is for each profession and what they’re best suited to treat. If you’re looking to become a PT or AT, this might help you figure out which path is right for you.
What Is Athletic Training?
The term ”athletic training” is unfamiliar to many people, or at least undefined. It’s one of those things that you probably know more about than you realize, especially if you watch or play sports. That’s because athletic training falls under the sports medicine umbrella, with “sports medicine” being the primary descriptive term. For instance, although sports experts like exercise physiologists, physical medicine physicians, and athletic trainers have different roles, they’re often collectively referred to as sports medicine professionals.
So, what exactly does the field of athletic training treat? According to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), “Athletic training encompasses the prevention, examination, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of emergent, acute or chronic injuries and medical conditions.”
It’s believed that the athletic training profession dates back to ancient Greece, when the sport of athletics was formed. However, as you might imagine, finding supporting evidence of this is difficult. In the United States, historians suggest that athletic training curriculum development began around the 1950s and 1960s, with NATA being established in 1950. The clinical education portion of athletic training didn’t start formally coming together until the 1970s, though.
Today, athletic training clinical instruction is very rigorous, and the field is evolving. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) all recognize athletic training as an allied healthcare profession.
The Role of an Athletic Trainer
Of course, athletic training cannot be performed without athletic trainers. Athletic trainers are front-line healthcare providers who collaborate with physicians to support recreational, amateur, and professional athletes. They may assist athletes with musculoskeletal injuries or help them with conditioning, strengthening, and enhancing their overall performance.
Athletic Trainer Job Duties
Some of their daily job duties might involve providing immediate care at an athletic event, like responding to someone experiencing a spinal injury, cardiac arrest, traumatic brain injury, heat illness, or a mental health crisis. They also offer support with rehabilitation following injury, research current methods of treatment, and evaluate Emergency Action Plans yearly to ensure they’re still effective.
A significant part of their role is working with coaches, doctors, and athletes to reduce the risk of sports-related injuries. Tasks associated with this collaboration may include:
- Encouraging safe practices. ATs ensure that the safety guidelines set by NATA and other organizations are followed.
- Creating customized programs. ATs assess what each athlete requires to improve their flexibility, strength, balance, and more. After assessment, they develop an individualized exercise regimen for each athlete, taking their current status and sports needs into account.
- Educating clients. Athletic trainers inform and teach individuals they treat about correct training methods and other information geared toward maintaining prime health during competitions.
- Pinpointing potential risks. An AT evaluates an athlete’s biomechanics and weaknesses to identify possible areas where injuries are more likely to occur.
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What Educational Background Does an Athletic Trainer Need?
A bachelor’s degree in exercise science or athletic training is the minimum requirement for becoming an athletic trainer. An advanced degree is also incredibly common for ATs. NATA reports that over 70% of ATs have a master’s degree as well as their bachelor’s. Athletic trainers must graduate from an athletic training education program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).
During their studies, athletic training students gain an understanding of and practice various emergency response skills such as suturing, wound care, treating heat-related illness, spinal stabilization, and tourniquet application. They also learn how to respond to cardiac or pulmonary concerns by implementing CPR, AED, and other methods.
To become a certified athletic trainer, you must pass the Board of Certification, Inc. (BOC) examination. After successfully passing, ATs must maintain continuing education requirements to stay current on the latest approaches in their field.
Are Athletic Trainers and Personal Trainers the Same?
Occasionally, ATs are confused with personal trainers, but their roles are significantly different. The only true similarity is that they both work with athletes.
Personal trainers help people achieve their fitness goals, such as losing weight, gaining muscle mass, or making better health and wellness decisions. They do this by developing, monitoring, and adjusting an individual’s specific exercise program in a fitness or sports setting.
However, personal trainers aren’t healthcare professionals like athletic trainers. They’re considered fitness or health and wellness professionals. Personal trainers can obtain certification from a governing body by taking a course and completing an exam. However, following that, there’s little to no regulation of their professional practice, and facilities aren’t required to only hire those who are certified. On the other hand, ATs have to complete extensive clinical practice time under the supervision of credentialed professionals, pass the rigorous AT exam, be continuously regulated, and more.
Some of this confusion might be due to the inclusion of “trainer” in the title “athletic trainer.” Truthfully, athletic trainers don’t actually “train” athletes at all, making the statutory title a bit of a misnomer. Instead, they provide care to them. A better title for them might be athletic therapist, which is what they’re often called in other countries.
The Athletic Training Work Environment
Athletic trainers work in a variety of environments and professional settings, including:
- Sports medicine clinics
- Athletic training facilities
- Schools (K-12, colleges, and universities)
- Sports venues
- Physician offices and hospitals
- Public safety
- Military
- Occupational health settings
- Performing arts facilities
Now that we know a little more about athletic training, let’s look at physical therapy.
What Is Physical Therapy?
Physical therapy, also known as physiotherapy, is a fundamental part of healthcare services. This field is dedicated to determining an individuals’ highest functional potential and formulating ways to help them achieve that potential. Exercises, massages, and different physical stimuli treatments using ultrasound, electrical currents, cold, and heat are used to fulfill that potential.
The profession of physical therapy, which has existed since the 1800s, is grounded in evidence-based practices and has extensive clinical applications. The profession evolved in the United States during two significant events: the poliomyelitis epidemics and the effects of the multiple wars in the mid-20th century.
Like athletic training, physical therapy is recognized as an allied health profession. Physiotherapy’s main priority is alleviating pain and helping individuals move better and strengthen their muscles. The profession aims to educate and help patients recognize what they can do on their own to improve their health as well.
The Role of a Physical Therapist
The movement experts and licensed specialists who carry out physical therapy are specially trained physical therapists, or PTs, for short. PTs work closely with patients who have disabilities, injuries, or other health conditions that require treatment.
As the American Physical Therapy Association shared, “[Physical therapists] help patients avoid surgery and prescription drugs, maximize mobility, manage pain and chronic conditions, prevent future problems, and improve physical function and fitness.”
It’s a very broad profession, which we’ll go over a bit more below.
Physical Therapist Job Duties
Physical therapists aim to improve one’s quality of life by promoting movement and restoring function. Some of their duties might involve:
- Reviewing the patient’s medical history, notes, and any applicable referrals by physicians, surgeons, or other healthcare professionals.
- Diagnosing a patient’s movements and functions by assessing their mobility and listening to their concerns.
- Creating a customized care plan that details a patient’s goals and expected outcomes.
- Using hands-on therapy, stretching techniques, exercises, and equipment to alleviate pain, enhance mobility, and support health and wellness.
- Educating patients and their family members on how to manage challenges when they come up and what to anticipate from the recovery process.
Physical Therapy Service Staff
When patients are referred for PT, it’s very possible that they’ll work with a non-PT member of the practice’s staff. Physical therapy assistants and aides, for example, work under the direction and supervision of physical therapists to support patients in their care journey.
Physical therapy assistants are licensed clinicians who collaborate with PTs to:
- Evaluate patients
- Create treatment plans
- Monitor patient progress
- Educate patients and their family members
- Complete administrative tasks
According to the APTA, physical therapy aides are support personnel who complete non-clinical tasks. Their role might include:
- Recording data during treatment
- Obtaining supplies
- Ensuring treatment areas and equipment are clean
- Helping patients with exercise equipment
- Handling clerical tasks
Physical Therapy Educational Background
A bachelor’s degree is required in the United States to pursue a career in physical therapy. While it formally sets the stage to opt for a physical therapy major in their bachelor program, it’s not uncommon for someone to choose therapeutic recreation, athletic training, biology, or health administration instead.
Once you’ve completed a bachelor’s degree, you must enroll in a Doctor of Physical Therapy program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE). These are usually three-year programs, where you will learn topics like pharmacology, kinesiology, biology, anatomy, and physiology.
After obtaining your doctoral degree, physical therapists can take the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) to test your knowledge and is a step in the accreditation process. Following successful exam completion, some licensed physical therapists seek specialization, which usually requires another year of studying.
Currently, there are ten specialty areas:
- Cardiovascular and pulmonary
- Clinical electrophysiology
- Geriatrics
- Neurology
- Oncology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics
- Sports
- Women’s health
- Wound management
Whether you specialize or not, PTs, like ATs, must complete a certain number of continuing education hours to maintain your license.
Board-Certified Sports Clinical Specialist
Physical therapists with a sports physical therapy specialty can use their clinical skills in various settings, such as traditional athletic environments and sports medicine centers. Those with this specialization usually assist with athletes’ physiological, psychological, and performance issues to attempt to prevent or correct problems.
However, gaining board certification in sports physical therapy doesn’t give PTs any additional rights. They can only practice within their state’s scope of practice for physical therapists. For instance, board certification in sports PT doesn’t give them the right to provide coverage at athletic venues. They’d likely need to become an emergency medical responder or certified athletic trainer to provide care at those venues.
The Physical Therapy Work Environment
Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics, many physical therapists (35%) work in a shared clinic with occupational therapists, physical therapists, and audiologists. However, they may also work in the following settings:
- Hospitals
- Home health agencies
- Nursing homes
- Medical clinics
Athletic Training vs Physical Therapy
Athletic training and physical therapy are both valuable, but as we’ve discussed above, they’re not the same. So, what are some of their similarities and difference?
Athletic Training & Physical Therapy: The Similarities
Both athletic trainers and physical therapists:
- Evaluate and treat injuries
- Develop and implement customized treatment plans
- Are educated in kinesiology
- Have a deep understanding of musculoskeletal anatomy
- Require graduate degrees
Athletic Training & Physical Therapy: The Differences
On the flip side, here is how these allied health professionals differ.
- Patient population: Athletic trainers mainly cater to athletes and overall healthy populations. Physical therapists, in general, primarily work with older adults or those with functional limitations. Sports physical therapists will see athletes at a much higher rate than the rest of the profession.
- Involvement: Athletic trainers focus heavily on injury prevention and will attend practices to assess an athlete’s vulnerability to future injuries. On the other hand, physical therapists often aren’t involved until someone becomes injured or is recovering from surgery.
- Training: Physical therapists are trained more on non-musculoskeletal injuries, like post-stroke care, compared to their athletic trainer counterparts, who mostly deal with musculoskeletal injuries.
- Insurance: CMS doesn’t currently recognize athletic trainers as Medicare providers, but they do recognize physical therapists. This is also true of private payers, who usually follow CMS guidelines.
- Education: While both professions require graduate degrees, the level of education needed to practice differs. ATs must have a master’s degree, and PTs require a doctorate.
When Is an Athletic Trainer Right for the Job?
Athletic trainers are the professionals that serve as the first line of defense when an injury occurs at a sporting event. They might also provide consultations to military and police recruits. Ultimately, their priority is preventing injury and assisting with acute issues like sprains, concussions, and fractures. They’re most likely to be the right fit for those looking to prevent injury or develop ways to safely return to their sport-specific movements after an injury has healed.
Athletic trainers collaborate with physicians and often work in group settings, so it’s less common for patients to seek them out for an individual need.
When Is a Physical Therapist Right for the Job?
Individuals are usually referred to physical therapists following an injury, surgery, or condition that causes mobility issues (e.g., arthritis). If a doctor feels it’s necessary, they’ll prescribe this type of treatment, which usually includes a certain number of sessions for a specific duration of time. This may be determined by insurance coverage, so this will vary by individual and state. These mobility experts will create an individualized treatment plan based on the patient’s current situation and functional goals.
It’s also possible to independently seek the opinion of a physical therapist, but keep in mind that the treatment for these patients may not be covered by insurance.
So Which Is Better, Athletic Training or Physical Therapy?
This depends on the job. Some needs are better suited to the athletic trainer’s skill set and location, and others are better treated by a physical therapist. At this point, you’re hopefully familiar with both professions, including their job duties and scope of practice, education levels, and who they usually support. Understanding the difference is important to make sure patients are getting the best treatment possible for their specific situation, which may be by another specialty. If you’re considering a career in either, we hope this guide was helpful to display the differences in these two career paths.