National Athletic Trainers' Association position paper

Prehospital Care of the Spine-Injured Athlete: A document from the Inter-Association Task Force for appropriate care of the spine-injured athlete

The AAPM&R Board of Governors Executive Committee has endorsed "Prehospital Care of the Spine-Injured Athlete: A document from the Inter-Association Task Force for Appropriate Care of the Spine-Injured Athlete."  AAPM&R and PASSOR were represented on the task force by Stuart Weinstein, MD.  The document is the final result of a two-year effort.  The PASSOR Board of Governors and AAPM&R have endorsed the document.  AAPM&R and PASSOR will be listed on the endorsement page included with the monograph.

Background

For many years, disagreements have occurred among various healthcare professionals as to the proper management of a spine-injured athlete, because each group of professionals had their own protocols. 

In 1998, NATA formed an inter-association task force to develop guidelines for the appropriate management of the catastrophically spine-injured athlete.  It was important to develop standard guidelines to be used by all providers of prehospital care that ensured the safe management of the spine-injured athlete.

Download NATA position paper: Prehospital Care for the Spine Injured Athlete