Opportunities for Advancing Health: Athletic Training in a Public Health Framework

Abstract Through clinical practice, athletic trainers have been involved in the protection and promotion of public health. Athletic trainers assess and monitor health through injury surveillance, create evidence-based policies (eg, environmental health and safety), and enable equitable access to care, which are critical to communities beyond their patient populations. While the relationship between athletic training and public health has been explored in the past, the need for collaboration grows as both professions evolve. Collaboration between these fields will encourage more robust data surveillance and data analysis, as well as evidence-based health policy, benefiting athletic training patient populations and communities at large.