Athletic Trainers: Between Care and Social Control

Walk, Stephan R.

doi:10.1016/s1476-2854(04)02014-x

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The focus of the analysis is the clinical practice of sport medicine. The term sport medicine has historically been used to refer to an interdisciplinary field that comprised physicians, physiotherapists and a profession that is well established in North America, athletic therapy (Walk 2004). 1 In recent years, there has been increasing involvement of CAM, including massage, acupuncture and, most notably for this analysis of inter‐professional collaborations, chiropractic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Canadian Athletic Therapy Association defines the scope of practice of a certified athletic therapist as ‘the assessment, prevention, immediate care, and reconditioning of musculoskeletal injuries’ (Canadian Athletic Therapy Association). The roots of the profession, and its continuing base, lie in university athletic programmes and on professional sports teams in the United States and Canada (Walk 2004), where athletic therapists (or trainers) historically were the primary providers of site coverage of athletic events, including immediate care of athletic injuries.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The integration of chiropractors into healthcare teams: a case study from sport medicine

Théberge

2007

Sociology Health & Illness

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This article examines the integration of chiropractors into multi-disciplinary healthcare teams in the specialisation of sport medicine. Sport medicine is practised in a number of contexts in professional and amateur sport. The current analysis focuses on the highest levels of amateur sport, as exemplified by the Olympics. Data are taken from interviews with 35 health professionals, including physicians, physiotherapists, athletic therapists and chiropractors. A defining feature of sport medicine is an emphasis on performance, which is the basis for a client-centred model of practice. These two elements have provided the main grounds for the inclusion of chiropractic in sport medicine. While the common understanding that 'athletes wanted them' has helped to secure a position for chiropractic within the system of sport medicine professions, this position is marked by ongoing tensions with other professions over the scope and content of practice, and the nature of the patient-practitioner relationship. In the context of these tensions, chiropractors' success in achieving acceptance on sport medicine teams is contingent on two factors: (a) reduced scope of practice in which they work primarily as manual therapists; and (b) the exemplary performance of individual practitioners who 'fit' into multi-disciplinary sport medicine teams.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

The integration of chiropractors into healthcare teams: a case study from sport medicine

Théberge

2007

Sociology Health & Illness

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“…A key dimension to the processes described by Walk (1997Walk ( , 2004 and Safai (2003) is the socialisation of athletes. Kotarba's (1983) study of chronic pain among professional athletes is an excellent example.…”

Section: Sportsnets As Thought Collectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘He may not be qualified in it, but I think he’s still got the knowledge’: Team-doctoring in combat sports

AlHashmi

Matthews

2021

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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Several studies have examined the provision of medical care in a variety of competitive sport settings. These are important contributions, but the majority of this work has focused on elite sports that tend to have a group of medical health professionals as part of the team, with little attention given to sports that lack access to such services. This lack of dedicated medical support may result in athletes being more likely to engage in ‘team-doctoring’ – a term used to describe athletes seeking medical advice from teammates and coaches. This concept is yet to be theorised and empirically described. In this paper, we begin to define, explore and contextualise the process of team-doctoring in relation to sociocultural interactions, beliefs embedded within the combat sport subculture and the critical role it plays in shaping fighters’ perceptions of health and injury. In so doing, we demonstrate that team-doctoring is the process whereby apparent medical knowledge is (mis)understood, recommended, transferred, interpreted and developed within a somewhat coherent team.

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“…1 Athletic therapy developed initially within US colleges, with a mission to minister to the care of athletes. Walk's (2004) historical examination of this occupation provides an account of athletic therapists working in US colleges as early as 1916, although The National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) in the United States was not formed until 1950. The Canadian Athletic Trainers Association (later renamed to Canadian Athletic Therapy Association; CATA) was established in 1965.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The primary base of practice remains college and university athletic programs, along with professional sport teams, where athletic therapists (or trainers) are the primary providers of site coverage of athletic events, includ ing immediate care for injuries. In these settings, athletic therapists typically work independently but under the supervision of physicians (Walk, 2004; see also DeConde, 1990;Walk, 1997).…”

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confidence: 99%

`We Have all theBases Covered'

Théberge

2009

International Review for the Sociology of Sport

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Three professions that figure prominently in sport medicine in Canada are athletic therapy, physiotherapy and chiropractic. These professions are characterized by blurred occupational bounda ries, arising from overlap in the content of practice and differences within the professions in the skills of individual practitioners. Accordingly, they face challenges in establishing jurisdiction over profes sional practice. This article examines the claims made by practitioners in these professions about the contributions of their own profession and how it is different from the others. The analysis draws upon interviews with 33 practitioners. Findings indicate that physiotherapy is positioned as the profession against which athletic therapists and chiropractors each locate themselves. Athletic therapists argue they are the sport specialists; this is challenged by the development of sport specializations in physi otherapy and chiropractic. Chiropractors assert specialized knowledge that enables them to contribute to athletes' performance. The increasing rationalization of sport provides a context in which chiro practors' assertions to contribute to performance offers a particularly meaningful basis for claiming a position in sport medicine.Literature in the sociology of sport includes an evolving analysis of the social organization of sport medicine. One of the themes explored in this research is the relations between different professions. The most developed analyses are by Malcolm (2006), who explored the interactions between physiotherapists and physicians who practise with English rugby union clubs and Theberge (2008), who investigated the integration of chiropractors into multidisciplinary sport medicine teams in the Canadian context. These analyses make clear that inter actions between professions practising in sport medicine are marked by shifting and in some cases contested control over the content of practice. Moreover, these studies indicate that negotiations over professional work in this specialty are shaped by a specific feature of practice in this setting, the emphasis on optimizing performance (see also Waddington,

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Athletic Trainers: Between Care and Social Control

Cited by 12 publications

References 16 publications

The integration of chiropractors into healthcare teams: a case study from sport medicine

The integration of chiropractors into healthcare teams: a case study from sport medicine

‘He may not be qualified in it, but I think he’s still got the knowledge’: Team-doctoring in combat sports

`We Have all theBases Covered'

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