# Athletic Trainers

> Evaluate and treat musculoskeletal injuries or illnesses. Provide preventive, therapeutic, emergency, and rehabilitative care.

- **SOC code:** 29-9091.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-9091-00
- **Also known as:** Athletic Instructor, Athletic Trainer, Certified Athletic Trainer, Personal Trainer, Athletic Lecturer, Resident Athletic Trainer, Women's Athletic Trainer, Clinical Athletic Instructor
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Conduct an initial assessment of an athlete's injury or illness to provide emergency or continued care and to determine whether they should be referred to physicians for definitive diagnosis and treatment.
- Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
- Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
- Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Clean and sanitize athletic training rooms.
- Instruct coaches, athletes, parents, medical personnel, or community members in the care and prevention of athletic injuries.
- Apply protective or injury preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, or braces, to body parts, such as ankles, fingers, or wrists.
- Collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs for athletic injuries.
- Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
- Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.
- Inspect playing fields to locate any items that could injure players.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Develop emergency action plans for sports facilities.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Medicine and Dentistry _(knowledge)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Psychology _(knowledge)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Judgment and Decision Making _(transferable_skill)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Speech Recognition _(ability)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Psychology _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Active Learning _(Common Skill)_
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- BioEx Systems Exercise Pro
- Database software
- Digital Coach AthleticTrainer
- Email software
- ImPACT Applications ImPACT
- Injury tracking software
- Keffer Development Services Athletic Trainer System ATS

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 36th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 39th percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 42nd percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 34th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 5th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 11.1% growth (Growing fast); 2.4k annual openings; 33.9k → 37.6k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $60,250; 28,950 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 28% automation, 56% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** task iteration.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance. _(2.0% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports. _(1.2% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Recommend special diets to improve athletes' health, increase their stamina, or alter their weight. _(0.5% of measured AI use; learning)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance.
- Help me perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
- Help me recommend special diets to improve athletes' health, increase their stamina, or alter their weight.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-9091-00_