On University of Connecticut Sports Science Week: Having an athletic trainer on hand can be lifesaving for athletes. Why are there not more of them?

Robert Huggins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, examines.

Dr. Robert Huggins is currently the President of Occupational Safety and Athlete Performance at the Korey Stringer Institute. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Huggins oversees the operations of the Athlete Performance Testing division of KSI and the Heat Safety Performance Coalition (HSPC) which strives to protect occupational laborers and workers from the dangerous effects of acute and chronic heat exposure. Dr. Huggins is the director of the Athletic Training Locations and Services (ATLAS) Project which keeps track of the level of AT services in over 21,000 secondary schools in the U.S. since 2015.Dr. Huggins focuses on two major areas of research, 1) athlete/laborer health, safety, and performance and 2) the access and provision of Athletic Training Services to secondary schools. In athletes and laborers, his research interests include the heat illness prevention, thermoregulation, hydration, and monitoring training load/workload and physiological biomarkers for the prevention of injury/illness. Related to AT services, his research focuses on improving the delivery of AT services at the secondary school level, emergency best practices in youth athletes, and the economic impact of medical services rendered by ATs. Dr. Huggins has been a lead or co-author on ~70 publications) and has delivered ~80 professional presentations throughout the US. His work can be found here (Research Gate and Google Scholar)

The Athletic Training Locations and Services or ATLAS Project has been keeping track of the level of Athletic Training Services in the over 21,000 high schools with athletics programs in the United States since 2015. This project is a joint effort between the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the Korey Stringer Institute. Our key aims were to provide impactful data in an effort to identify areas of need, understand the factors driving the provision of AT services in schools across the U.S. and state by state, and to determine the impact that appropriate medical care has on sudden death and injury outcomes in high school sport. We’ve surveyed over 13,000 schools every 2-3 years for the past 10 years totaling ~39,000 surveys. These data provide key data in real-time, to schools, school boards, coaches, parents, high school athletics associations, and state athletic training associations to ensure that they have a pulse on their state and the provision of athletic healthcare and where they need to focus their efforts. Some examples of what our research has found include:• One third (33%) of high schools in the US do NOT have AT services, that school size, geographic locale/urbanicity, and poverty are some of the driving factors related to having versus not having an AT. • High schools with full time AT services are 2.1 to 4.3 times greater odds of having life-saving equipment needed for exertional heatstroke, anaphylaxis, exertional sickling, asthma, and diabetes prevention and care.• Minority student-athletes have lower sudden cardiac arrest survival rates compared with white non-Hispanic student-athletes (51.1% vs 75.9%)• High schools with higher levels of poverty were associated with lower AT employment, and access to AT services highlighting the need for strategies to ensure student athlete safety in higher poverty regions.ATLAS has provided key data that has informed decisions, enhanced the provision of healthcare in the form of AT services, and has ensured that athletes remain safe during sport.

Read More:[UConn Today] - Athletic Trainer Employment in High Schools Associated with Fewer Fatalities and Injuries

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Robert Huggins, University of Connecticut - High School Athletic Trainers Save Lives - Why Aren't There More of Them?

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Robert Huggins, University of Connecticut - High School Athletic Trainers Save Lives - Why Aren't There More of Them?