Evaluate and advise individuals to assist recovery from or avoid athletic-related injuries or illnesses, or maintain peak physical fitness. May provide first aid or emergency care.
U.S. Workers
28,950
Median Salary
$60,250
10-Year Growth
+11.1%
Annual Openings
2,400
Typical entry: Master's degree
19 of 22 tasks have some AI capability
Exposure Trend
This score reflects estimated AI technical capability for tasks in this occupation. It does not predict employment changes, and it does not account for company-specific constraints, regulation, or adoption barriers.
Assess and report the progress of recovering athletes to coaches or physicians.
AI: Fully automatable - AI can continuously monitor recovery data from sensors and electronic records, quantify progress against objectives, and generate reports for coaches or physicians with high reliability in routine follow‑up contexts.
Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI systems can generate reports, populate and maintain records, and automate routine administrative workflows from structured and unstructured data.
Advise athletes on the proper use of equipment.
AI: Fully automatable - Advising on proper equipment use is largely informational and can be fully automated with personalized guidance, videos, and interactive feedback systems.
File athlete insurance claims and communicate with insurance providers.
AI: Fully automatable - Filing insurance claims and routine communications can be fully automated by AI/workflow systems that complete forms, submit claims, and manage provider correspondence.
Instruct coaches, athletes, parents, medical personnel, or community members in the care and prevention of athletic injuries.
AI: Fully automatable - Instruction and education on injury care and prevention can be fully delivered by AI through tailored curricula, videos, simulations, and interactive training tools.
Evaluate athletes' readiness to play and provide participation clearances when necessary and warranted.
AI: Partial - AI can synthesize objective metrics and provide readiness recommendations, but final participation clearances typically require human clinical judgment and hands-on assessment by a qualified professional.
Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
AI: Partial - AI can guide protocols, personalize therapy plans and control assistive devices in some settings, but hands-on treatment, manual therapy techniques and medication administration still require human practitioners.
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.
AI: Partial - AI can perform robust initial digital triage using symptoms, history and sensors and recommend referrals, but comprehensive initial physical assessment and emergency hands‑on care require trained humans.
Apply protective or injury preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, or braces, to body parts, such as ankles, fingers, or wrists.
AI: Partial - AI can provide step‑by‑step guidance, training, and robotic assistance prototypes, but reliable hands‑on application of tape/braces still requires human manual dexterity and judgment.
Plan or implement comprehensive athletic injury or illness prevention programs.
AI: Partial - AI can design evidence‑based, personalized prevention programs and optimize protocols from data, but cannot fully execute all in‑person implementation and real‑time coaching without human staff.
Collaborate with physicians to develop and implement comprehensive rehabilitation programs for athletic injuries.
AI: Partial - AI can analyze patient data, suggest rehab protocols and support physician collaboration, but legal, clinical decision‑making and hands‑on implementation require human clinicians.
Inspect playing fields to locate any items that could injure players.
AI: Partial - Computer‑vision systems and drones can detect many field hazards and flag issues, but they are not yet fully comprehensive or contextually equivalent to a human inspection.
Develop training programs or routines designed to improve athletic performance.
AI: Partial - AI can generate evidence-based, individualized training programs from athlete data, but lacks hands-on assessment, real-time nuanced adjustments, and full accountability to completely replace human trainers.
Teach sports medicine courses to athletic training students.
AI: Partial - AI can create curricula, lectures, and assessments for sports medicine students, but cannot fully replace human instructors for clinical supervision, hands-on labs, and accreditation responsibilities.
Recommend special diets to improve athletes' health, increase their stamina, or alter their weight.
AI: Partial - AI can propose dietary plans tailored to goals and constraints using nutrition science, but cannot substitute for licensed nutritionists/clinicians for medical oversight, monitoring, and regulatory limits.
Conduct research or provide instruction on subject matter related to athletic training or sports medicine.
AI: Partial - AI can perform literature reviews and produce instructional materials on athletic training and sports medicine, but cannot conduct physical experiments or fully replace human educators for clinical skill teaching and research execution.
Confer with coaches to select protective equipment.
AI: Partial - AI can recommend protective equipment based on sport, position, and standards, but cannot fully replace in-person consultation and contextual judgment when conferring with coaches.
Lead stretching exercises for team members prior to games or practices.
AI: Partial - AI can lead and demonstrate stretching routines via apps or virtual instructors and provide cues, but typically cannot match in-person real-time correction, motivation, and safety oversight for teams.
Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
AI: Partial - AI can automate administrative team-support tasks like inventory, scheduling, and procurement, but physical errands and hands-on equipment maintenance still require human staff or specialized robotics not universally deployed.
Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
AI: Not automatable - Physically traveling with teams to provide on‑site coverage is a presence‑dependent task that AI cannot perform.
Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
AI: Not automatable - Accompanying injured athletes to hospitals requires physical presence and transport duties that AI cannot perform.
Massage body parts to relieve soreness, strains, or bruises.
AI: Not automatable - Massage is a hands-on manual therapy requiring human touch and clinical judgment, which AI alone cannot perform (except via specialized robots not broadly available).