Spine Injury Management in Sport

John Reynolds, MS, ATC and Jon Almquist, ATC

This online course is designed to help certified athletic trainers (ATCs) understand the principles of spine injury management and learn the skills they'll need to evaluate, treat, and transport the spine-injured athlete.

You'll use a Primal Interactive Anatomy product to review the bones, joints, and muscles of the spine. This resource will be available throughout the entire course.

You’ll also access images related to the spine injury management recommendations of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

Spine Injury Mechanisms & Prevention

The Spine Injury Management in Sport course begins with a discussion of injuries common to the spine. You'll create a chart detailing common spine injuries to share with your Emergency Plan Team (EPT). This chart should include information on specific structures involved, the signs and symptoms of injuries to those structures, and typical mechanisms of those injuries. Primal's Interactive Spine (not the chiropractic version) is used as a resource.

Reviewing Your Emergency Plan

Once you've refreshed your understanding of spine injuries and their mechanisms, you'll turn your attention to the emergency plan. You'll review the key components of an emergency plan by creating a draft of the plan. You'll also be able to identify appropriate personnel and their roles on the EPT. Video clips of an EPT in action provide you with examples of key concepts. As you review this material, remember how essential practice is in identifying problems or shortcomings in your emergency plan. The discussion begins with the initial evaluation, moves on to equipment management, and concludes with the specifics of immobilizing and transporting an athlete with a spine injury.

Performing an Initial Evaluation

You'll learn the principles of performing the initial evaluations, including the initial, focused, and neurological assessments of an athlete with a suspected spine injury. You'll practice these assessments.

Equipment Management

The next topic is equipment removal. You’ll learn the various reasons for removing or keeping an athlete's equipment in place, depending on the circumstances; you'll learn to recognize when equipment should or shouldn't be removed. The tools and techniques for managing football equipment will be demonstrated, but the same techniques, and reasons for using them, apply to other sports in which equipment is used.

Positioning, Immobilizing, & Transporting

In the final unit of the course, the techniques for immobilizing and transporting an athlete with a suspected spine injury are described. You'll become familiar with the types of equipment needed to properly immobilize an athlete for transport. You'll need to practice and rehearse these skills for them to become automatic.

Course Test

At the end of the course, you'll take a timed exam over the course's key concepts and principles.

System Requirements

This course is designed to work best when your computer and Internet browser are configured to the following technical requirements and setup specifications:

• Internet Explorer 5.5+ (Windows), Netscape Navigator 7.1+, Mozilla 1.7+, or Firefox 1.0+.
• Computer monitor preferences set for 800 X 600 resolution or larger.
• Adobe Flash Player version 6+. To download the free Flash Player, click on the button below.
• Adobe Reader version 7+. To download Acrobat Reader, click on the button below.
• CD-ROM drive with course CD inserted.
• Browser pop-up blockers disabled.

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