Athletic trainers' perception of interval/intermittent training in rehabilitation

Objective. Study to determine if athletic trainers utilize interval/intermittent training methods in their rehabilitation protocols, and if they do, how.;Setting. An email was sent out to certified athletic trainers in the NATA District 2 with a link to the survey to be completed on an internet based program at the athletic trainers own discretion.;Participants. 953 certified athletic trainers from the NATA District 2 were asked to volunteer their time and participate in the study. 131 athletic trainers responded to the survey.;Interventions. An original survey was created for this study. The survey was examined by a panel of experts to determine the validity of the survey. Then an IRB approved survey was sent to 5 certified athletic trainers to test its reliability. The survey was created on the web server "Survey Monkey" and sent via email to the athletic trainers. A cover letter explaining the study was also uploaded with the survey.;Main Outcome Measures. The research hypotheses will be analyzed using chi-square goodness of fit test and chi-square test of independence at an alpha level of 0.05.;Results. A significant interaction was found in athletic trainers' familiarity with interval/intermittent training methods. The majority- at 53.4%- were found to be vaguely-somewhat familiar. The majority of athletic trainers were also found to not use these training methods in their rehabilitation protocols at 55.7%. An insignificant relationship was found between athletic trainers' use of interval/intermittent training and whether athletic trainers held an additional credential where X2= .069, p> 0.05. An insignificant relationship was also found between athletic trainer's use of interval/intermittent training methods and whether the athletic trainers held a type of strength and conditioning credential where X2= .078, p> 0.05.;Conclusions. While the results of this study were statistically insignificant, trends were found. Holding an additional credential, or specifically a type of strength and conditioning credential, did not predict use of interval/intermittent training methods in rehabilitation protocols. Athletic trainers' familiarity with interval/intermittent training was found to be statistically significant indicating that while the majority of athletic trainers were found to be vaguely-somewhat familiar with these training methods, most of them did not utilize them in their rehabilitation protocols. Further research is necessary to determine if there is a relationship between interval/intermittent training and improving balance/coordination/proprioception, or if there is any validity that ACL reconstruction surgery truly benefits from these training methods due to the large responses in these two areas specifically.