The TL/DR...

  • Athletic trainers can be found working throughout the community providing support to individuals who are engaged in physical activities that require high levels of agility, strength, power, and endurance.
  • The athletic training profession has extended its reach beyond traditional sports to offer care within the realm of performing arts, military, industrial, and public safety settings where individuals face elevated risks of musculoskeletal injury.
  • In many K-12 high school and middle school athletic programs, athletic trainers deliver specialized injury prevention and rehabilitative services to youth as a key member of a pediatric sports medicine team.

The way in which ballet dancers and football players move while performing looks very different. Ballet dancers use their bodies to tell a story through graceful and artistic movements. In contrast, football players rely on the physical force of their bodies to make contact with opponents in executing defensive and offensive plays. To the casual observer, each of these activities could not be further apart from one another. But to the disciplined eye of an athletic trainer, ballet and football are closer alike than people may realize when it comes to the agility, power, endurance, and strength needed for an individual to deliver a high quality, injury-free performance.

The thread that connects football and ballet extends to many physical activities that take place outside of traditional sports in fields like the performing arts which includes different forms of dance, theater, and music. It also extends its reach to a variety of occupations in diverse settings like healthcare, the military, industrial worksites, law enforcement, public safety, and other environments where people perform jobs that depend on the ability to move, lift and carry heavy loads, or engage in strenuous physical activity for long periods of time. Often these occupational duties are performed in an atmosphere of high stress. Whether it is within the realm of the performing arts or the occupational settings described here, individuals who are physically active in these areas face an elevated risk of sustaining a serious musculoskeletal injury. That is why over the last twenty years, more athletic trainers have started to work in sectors that are outside of traditional sports. Jatin Ambegaonkar, professor of Athletic Training Education at George Mason University, recently shared his perspective on how athletic trainers are extending their reach in providing services that benefit the health and well-being of many individuals in the community.

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once is the title of the 2022 acclaimed film that won an Oscar for “Best Picture.” It is also an apt description of the versatile role that athletic trainers play in delivering health care to populations across a wide variety of settings that could include a medical clinic, a dance studio, a construction site, an athletic field, or any other place where injury prevention, recovery, and rehabilitative services are needed.

These professionals bring the same level of expertise and dedication when working with an athlete who plays traditional sports as they do when providing support to a dancer or other performing artist to help them improve their performance as aesthetic athletes. Similarly, athletic trainers administer this same high level of care when helping tactical athletes such as firefighters, first responders, and active-duty members of the military to enhance their occupational fitness and reduce their risk of injury. They can also be found at construction sites or factories where they provide medical assistance to employees who may be injured on the job. Put simply, athletic trainers can be found anywhere in the community where people engage in physically demanding activities.

Athletic Training in the Performing Arts

As mentioned previously, the profession of athletic training has traditionally been associated with providing preventative and rehabilitative support to individuals who play sports. However, in recent years, the athletic training profession has experienced growth in several non-traditional areas. One of these is performing arts. Dancers, musicians, vocalists, and other performing artists can easily suffer a musculoskeletal injury while performing. These aesthetic athletes can benefit from having access to an athletic trainer who provides services that will help them enhance their performance and reduce their risk of injury. If an artist does get hurt while performing their craft, an athletic trainer can provide immediate care at the time and place of injury and then work with the individual to develop a longer-term plan for recovery and rehabilitation.

An athletic trainer can provide preventative and rehabilitative care to youth, serving as an integral member of a pediatric sports medicine team.

Another exciting area in the athletic training profession is pediatric sports medicine. This is a specialty where athletic trainers work as part of a team that includes doctors, physical therapists, orthopedic surgeons, nutritionists, and other health care professionals who focus their expertise on the unique needs of children, adolescents, and teens who may incur a musculoskeletal injury. Athletic trainers working in pediatric sports medicine can be found at many K-12 high school and middle school athletic programs where they provide both immediate and rehabilitative care to youth participating in school sports.


To learn more about the Athletic Training Education Program at George Mason University, please visit the program website.