Attitudes Toward Implicit Bias Among Athletic Trainers.

Implicit biases are attitudes, emotions, or stereotypes that occur in an unconscious manner and have the potential to negatively affect behaviors, actions, and decisions. Recent studies have suggested that even when certain factors are controlled for, health care workers do not provide equitable care to patients from different demographics. When patients are not receiving equitable health care, there is a potential for disparities in patient-related outcomes.

More Than Skin Deep: Patient-Provider Racial and Ethnic Concordance and Discordance in Collegiate Athletics and Concussion Management.

Context: There is strong evidence that racial and ethnic disparities exist in multiple arenas of health and wellness. The causes of racial and ethnic differences in health care are multidimensional; one factor that may affect injury/illness communication, interactions, and outcomes is patient-provider racial and ethnic concordance. At present, it is unclear what role patient-provider racial and ethnic concordance and discordance plays in facilitating concussion care for collegiate athletes.

Differences in health-related quality of life among patients after ankle injury.

Ankle sprains are the most common injuries sustained in the physically active, often associated with pain and functional limitations long after initial recovery. In recent years, the impact of ankle sprains on general health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been noted in athletes, but is not well-documented in the general population. We examined differences in HRQoL and general health between individuals with ankle sprain history and healthy controls.

Self-Reported Injury History and Health-Related Quality of Life in Competitive, Collegiate Baton Twirlers.

Objective: Injury epidemiology and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) have not been researched in baton twirlers. This cross-sectional study described time-loss injuries sustained by competitive collegiate baton twirlers, identified the relationship between training volume and injuries, and established injury impact on HRQOL.

Methods: An online survey was used to collect activity volume, number and characteristics of time-loss injuries experienced within a 12-month window, and HRQOL via the Short Form-36.

Athletic Trainers' Perceptions of Treating and Managing Patients With Ankle Sprains.

Context: Ankle sprains are common occurrences in athletic and general populations. High volumes of ankle sprains elevate the clinical burden on athletic trainers (ATs). The National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) published a position statement regarding the treatment and management of ankle sprains, but certain factors might affect an AT's ability to effectively implement the recommendations.

Knee Surgery Is Associated With Greater Odds of Knee Osteoarthritis Diagnosis.

Context: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) frequently develops following knee injury/surgery. It is accepted that knee injury/surgery precipitates OA with previous studies examining this link in terms of years after injury/surgery. However, postinjury OA prevalence has not been examined by decade of life; thereby, limiting our understanding of the age at which patients are diagnosed with posttraumatic knee OA.

Benefits of and barriers to using patient-rated outcome measures in athletic training.

Context: Patient-rated outcome measures (PROMs) are important for driving treatment decisions and determining treatment effectiveness. However, athletic trainers (ATs) rarely use them; understanding why may facilitate strategies for collection of these outcomes.

Objective: To identify the benefits of and barriers to using PROMs in athletic training.

Understanding athletic trainers' beliefs toward a multifacted sport-related concussion approach: application of the theory of planned behavior.

Context: Practice guidelines recommend a multifaceted approach for managing concussions, but a relatively small percentage of athletic trainers (ATs) follow these recommendations. Understanding ATs' beliefs toward the recommended concussion practice guidelines is the first step in identifying interventions that could increase compliance. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) allows us to measure ATs' beliefs toward the recommended concussion practice guidelines.

A learner-centered technique and clinical reasoning, reflection, and case presentation attributes in athletic training students.

Context: Providing opportunities to develop clinical decision-making skills, including clinical reasoning, is an important aspect of clinical education. The learner-centered technique of summarizing the history and findings, narrowing the differential, analyzing the differential, probing the instructor about uncertainties, plan management, and selecting an issue for self-directed study (SNAPPS) is used in medicine to express clinical reasoning.

Objective: To investigate the effects of SNAPPS on the clinical reasoning, reflection, and 4 case presentation attributes (length, conciseness, case summary, and expression of clinical reasoning) in athletic training students.

Clinical assessment of low-back-pain treatment outcomes in athletes.

Unlabelled: PATIENT SCENARIO: A 21-year-old male rodeo athlete complains of acute low back pain (LBP) after a bareback event. The athlete wishes to compete in a rodeo event in 4 d. CLINICAL OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT: Given the questionable validity and reliability of traditional clinical examination techniques for LBP, a treatment subgroup classification system combined with clinical outcomes assessment provides greater insight into suitable clinical interventions and patient response to treatment.

The Disablement in the Physically Active Scale, part II: the psychometric properties of an outcomes scale for musculoskeletal injuries.

Context: Outcomes assessment is an integral part of ensuring quality in athletic training, but few generic instruments have been specifically designed to measure disablement in the physically active.

Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of the Disablement in the Physically Active Scale (DPA), a patient-report, generic outcomes instrument.

Design: Observational study.

Transient disablement in the physically active with musculoskeletal injuries, part I: a descriptive model.

Context: Disablement theory has been characterized as the sequence of events that occurs after an injury, but little research has been conducted to establish how disablement is experienced and described by physically active persons.

Objective: To describe the disablement process in physically active persons with musculoskeletal injuries.

Design: Concurrent, embedded mixed-methods study.

Evidence-based sports medicine: outcomes instruments for active populations.

Clear and directed outcomes assessment is an integral part of clinical decision making. For sports medicine clinicians, it is crucial to choose appropriate instruments that are grounded in disablement theory, designed to measure the ability of a physically active population, and have established psychometric properties. Although there is no instrument ideal for every situation in sports medicine, there are important guidelines that a clinician can follow that will allow for the selection of an appropriate instrument.

Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate women's field hockey injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System, 1988-1989 through 2002-2003.

Objective: To review 15 years of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) injury surveillance data for women's field hockey and identify potential areas for injury prevention initiatives.

Background: Field hockey is one of the most popular sports worldwide and is growing in participation in the United States, particularly among women. From 1988-1989 to 2002-2003, participation in NCAA women's field hockey increased 12%, with the largest growth among Division III programs.

Prophylactic Ankle Taping and Bracing: A Numbers-Needed-to-Treat and Cost-Benefit Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Taping and bracing are thought to decrease the incidence of ankle sprains; however, few investigators have addressed the effect of preventive measures on the rate of ankle sprains. Our purpose was to examine the effectiveness of ankle taping and bracing in reducing ankle sprains by applying a numbers-needed-to-treat (NNT) analysis to previously published studies. DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed, CINAHL, SPORT Discus, and PEDro for original research from 1966 to 2002 with key words ankle taping, ankle sprains, injury incidence, prevention, ankle bracing, ankle prophylaxis, andnumbers needed to treat.