Athletic Trainers
Evaluate and treat musculoskeletal injuries or illnesses. Provide preventive, therapeutic, emergency, and rehabilitative care.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Learning
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Customer and Personal Service
- Psychology
- Therapy and Counseling
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Public Safety and Security
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care and to determine whether they should be referred to physicians for definitive diagnosis and treatment.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- Apply protective or injury preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, or braces, to body parts, such as ankles, fingers, or wrists.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs for athletic injuries.
- Advise athletes on the proper use of equipment.
- Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Master's Degree (54.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (43.2%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (44.6%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Athletic Trainers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 90% of occupations compared | 87% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 71% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 93% of occupations compared | 81% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 76% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 70% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 88% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 87% of occupations compared | 29% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 44% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 13.18%
- Constant contact with others: 86.82%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.9%
- Fairly important: 0.64%
- Important: 21.06%
- Very important: 14.7%
- Extremely important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 1.52%
- Very important: 17.25%
- Extremely important: 81.23%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 0%
- Some freedom: 57.29%
- A lot of freedom: 42.71%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 13.18%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 2.5%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.43%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 40.45%
- Every day: 24.44%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 15.37%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.64%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.78%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.49%
- Every day: 25.72%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 17.23%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.55%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 28.51%
- Every day: 25.72%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 5.3%
- Fairly serious: 12.54%
- Serious: 13.85%
- Very serious: 24.44%
- Extremely serious: 43.88%
n = 19, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-9091.00 · SOC 29-9091 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8