Objective: To address the need for a more definitive approach to critical thinking during athletic training educational experiences by introducing the clinical reasoning model for critical thinking. Background: Educators are aware of the need to teach students how to think critically. The multiple domains of athletic training are comprehensive and complex. Thinking is the fundamental connection between didactic and experiential components. Therefore, clinical thinking must be viewed as a critical part of experiential education in athletic training. Description: Research from educational journals in medicine, physical therapy and athletic training, as well as relevant texts, were searched to investigate the theoretical and practical underpinnings of clinical thinking models. Definitions, applications, and the historical underpinnings of the clinical thinking processes in allied health were reviewed and presented to highlight the need for athletic training educators to better appreciate the thinking processes of students and practitioners. Practical suggestions for the implementation of clinical reasoning in athletic training are presented. Application: Athletic training requires clinically based decision-making and problem solving skills. Medical educators recognize differences between the thinking of novice and expert practitioners, and have investigated the nature of clinical cognition as part of their formal curriculum. As AT's professional scope and credibility expand, the process of teaching, fostering, and evaluating clinical reasoning is paramount for AT educators.

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Collectively, both cases reinforce the need for the attending clinicians to perform a thorough history and pay attention to subtle clinical findings, regardless of the relatively low risk in college-aged athletes. Although the Wells' CPRs for DVT can be used as a diagnostic guideline in the general population, it might not fully address the risks inherent in a young, otherwise healthy athletic population. We propose a risk-screening tool that is based on and modified from our experiences with these 2 patients and the known prediction rules and positive probability influences.

Clinical practice in sports medicine is often guided by axioms or paradigms of practice, some of which have persisted over time despite a lack of objective evidence to support their validity. Evidence-based practice compels practicing clinicians to not only seek out and produce evidence that informs their decision-making, but also to challenge existing paradigms of thought and practice, especially when favorable treatment outcomes remain elusive. Insidious, load induced lateral knee pain around the iliotibial band in runners, cyclists, military personnel, rowers, and other athletes has for decades now been conceptualized as iliotibial band friction syndrome, a biomechanically based and unsubstantiated paradigm based on Renne’s 1975 theory that the iliotibial band slips back and forth over the lateral femoral epicondyle during flexion and extension movements of the knee, primarily irritating the underlying bursa and even the iliotibial band itself. Newer evidence about the anatomy and biomechanics of the iliotibial band, the physiology of the condition, and interventional outcomes is now available to challenge that long-held paradigm of thought for iliotibial band related pathology. Given this plethora of new information available for clinical scientists, iliotibial band impingement syndrome is proposed here as a new, evidence-informed paradigm for evaluating and treating this problematic overuse syndrome.

The external evidence was helpful in making informed clinical decisions regarding patient care.