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ABSTRACT PRESENTATION 

 

66 
Copyright © by Indiana State University                                                                                Clinical Practice in Athletic Training  
All rights reserved. ISSN Online 2577-8188                                                                        Volume 4 – Issue 1 – February 2021 
 

The Role and Value of the Athletic Trainer in the Chiropractic Medicine 
Setting 
Nicholas Spangler, DAT, LAT, ATC* 
*Community Care Network, Schererville, IN 
 

 
 
Full Citation 
Spangler N. The Role and Value of the Athletic 
Trainer in the Chiropractic Medicine Setting. Clin Pract 
Athl Train. 2021;4(1):66. 
https://doi.org/10.31622/2021/0004.1.11.   
 
Presented at the 4rd Annual Athletic Trainers in the 
Physician Practice Society Meeting and Conference, 
February 26-27, 2021.  

 

ABSTRACT 

In the United States, back pain is the most common 
cause of activity limitation in people younger than 
45 years, the second most frequent reason for 
visits to the physician, the third most common cause 
of surgical procedure, and the most frequently 
reported subcategory of musculoskeletal 
impairment in the United States of people aged 
up to 65 years (51.7%).1 Chiropractors are 
healthcare professionals who are trained in the 
evaluation and treatment of this patient 
population and utilize a variety of skills like spinal 
manipulation, soft tissue mobilization, modalities, 
and therapeutic exercise. Athletic trainers are 
healthcare professionals whose educational and 
clinical background in musculoskeletal evaluation 
make them specifically suited to work alongside 
chiropractors as both providers utilize many of the 
clinical skills listed above. As the employment of 
athletic trainers in the physician practice setting 
continues to grow, the setting of chiropractic 
medicine offers athletic trainers unique 
opportunities that are both similar and different 
from that of the traditional orthopedic physician 
practice. Comparable to the orthopedic physician 
setting, athletic trainers can provide indirect value 
in the chiropractic setting through rooming 
patients, taking vitals, and charting during 

evaluations. However, the chiropractic setting also 
offers athletic trainers the unique opportunity to 
perform therapeutic exercise and manual therapy 
in the physician practice setting. By doing so, the 
athletic trainer can provide direct value to this 
setting by performing billable services that would 
otherwise not be offered without either the 
training of another provider or at the expense of 
the chiropractor’s time. Specifically, using data 
from our practice, we see that an athletic trainer 
alone performs approximately 30% of the 
services billed for by the provider. When 
projecting the value of these services over a 
calendar year, an athletic trainer alone can 
provide up to $40,000 worth of services in a 
practice operating at near full patient load. As 
athletic training continues to grow in the physician 
practice, the profession should continue to be 
aware of the variety of settings in which athletic 
trainers can provide value and practice near the 
top of their scope of practice. This presentation 
will overview the direct and indirect value an 
athletic trainer can provide in the chiropractic 
setting. 
 
Correspondence 
Dr. Nicholas Spangler, 1345 US 30, Schererville IN 46375 
Email:  spanglern1020@gmail.com  
Twitter: @spanglernAT 
 
REFERENCES 
1. Andersson GB. Epidemiological features of 

chronic low-back pain. Lancet. 
1999;354(9178):581-585. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-
6736(99)01312-4.   

 
 

https://doi.org/10.31622/2021/0004.1.11
mailto:spanglern1020@gmail.com
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)01312-4
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(99)01312-4

