Resilient
Last Update: 7/31/2026
AI Resilience Score for Athletic Trainers:
67.1%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
High
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Med
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
High
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
This result is backed by strong agreement across multiple data sources.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forAthletic Trainers
$62,520 median salary•2,400 annual openings•SOC Code: 29-9091.00
Athletic Trainers are more resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 8 sources.
Athletic training is labeled "Resilient" because the heart of the job, hands-on care like taping injuries, guiding rehab exercises, and making real-time decisions on the sideline, requires human judgment, physical touch, and genuine connection with athletes that AI simply cannot replicate. Yes, AI is taking over some of the more repetitive tasks like filing insurance claims and spotting injury patterns in data, but those were never the most valuable parts of the role anyway.
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Athletic training is labeled "Resilient" because the heart of the job, hands-on care like taping injuries, guiding rehab exercises, and making real-time decisions on the sideline, requires human judgment, physical touch, and genuine connection with athletes that AI simply cannot replicate. Yes, AI is taking over some of the more repetitive tasks like filing insurance claims and spotting injury patterns in data, but those were never the most valuable parts of the role anyway.
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Athletic Trainers
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Athletic Trainers jobs?
Right now, AI is more often augmenting athletic trainers than replacing them. The biggest gains are showing up in the paperwork-heavy parts of the job. According to a recent National Association of Insurance Commissioners survey of 93 insurance companies in 16 states, 84% of responding insurers across health care insurance product lines use AI or machine learning to speed up claims review, which directly touches the insurance-filing task that O*NET flags as 72% automatable (KFF [1]).
On the clinical side, the National Athletic Trainers' Association now offers continuing-education programming on "Artificial Intelligence in Athletic Training" [2] as part of its 2025 essential curriculum, signaling that the profession is actively learning the tools rather than ignoring them. AI is also showing up in injury prevention and rehab: UC San Diego researchers built a generative-AI model called BIGE that generates the best motions athletes can execute during exercise to avoid injury and improve performance, or the best motions for athletes that need rehabilitation after an injury. Sports-medicine physicians describe similar uses in their own practices, noting that AI can analyze data from wearable devices, motion capture systems, and historical injury records to identify risk factors for injuries.
The hands-on tasks — massage, escorting injured athletes to hospitals, leading warm-ups — remain firmly human.
How fast is AI adoption growing for Athletic Trainers?
Adoption is moving quickly on the administrative side because the tools are commercially available, cheap, and tied to insurer cost savings. Technology companies are vying for insurers and TPAs to adopt their AI-related products with the promise of faster, more accurate claims review, which pulls trainers into AI-mediated workflows whether they want it or not. Clinical adoption, however, is slower.
Sports-medicine leaders warn that the deployment of generative AI in clinical settings must be approached with caution, with issues related to data privacy, ethical considerations, and the necessity for rigorous validation protocols. There's also a real labor-market push: the average annual salary for a university athletic trainer is $58,820, nearly $38,000 less than an occupational therapist, and burnout is driving many trainers out of school settings — which makes administrators eager for AI tools that reduce documentation load rather than cut headcount. Finally, leaders in college sports are being told to treat AI as a strategic capability, not a gadget, and to preserve the human core of athlete care.
The takeaway for students considering this career: AI will likely handle more of the typing, billing, and pattern-spotting, while your hands, eyes, and judgment courtside become more valuable, not less.
Will AI replace Athletic Trainers?
No. We don't think AI will replace Athletic Trainers, but the job will shift in real ways.
Athletic trainers earn a 67.1% AI Resilience Score from us, and the reasons are pretty clear once you look at the work itself. The parts AI is already handling well are the administrative ones: claims review, documentation, and pattern-spotting from wearable data. With 84% of health insurance companies now using AI or machine learning to speed up claims review [1], trainers will spend less time on paperwork. That is mostly a good thing, freeing up attention for athletes.
What stays human is the core of the job. Hands-on treatment, reading an athlete's body language on the sideline, building the trust that makes an injured player actually follow a rehab plan, none of that transfers to software. The National Athletic Trainers' Association is already weaving AI literacy into its 2025 continuing-education curriculum [2], which tells you the profession is adapting rather than retreating.
The economic picture is solid but not spectacular, which is why we rate employer demand as medium. Still, trainers who learn to work alongside AI tools, letting the technology handle the data crunching while they focus on direct care, will be in a stronger position than those who ignore it. The human core of this career is durable.
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Latest AI news for Athletic Trainers
These articles highlight the potential of AI to revolutionize athletic training, which is crucial for future athletic trainers. For instance, the ethical examination of AI coaches emphasizes the importance of privacy and bias, ensuring trainers can responsibly integrate these technologies. Additionally, research on AI-driven training effects showcases how personalized training programs can enhance athlete performance. Embracing AI not only prepares athletic trainers for modern challenges but also empowers them to optimize athlete care, fostering resilience in their careers as technology continues to evolve.
Ethical examination of AI coaches: privacy, bias, and responsibility
www.frontiersin.org • 3/5/2026
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into sports, particularly through AI-driven coaching systems, marks a transformative advancement with the...
Research on the sports training effect based on GABP neural network and artificial intelligence
www.nature.com • 11/10/2025
With the increasing need for precision and personalization in athletic training, artificial intelligence (AI) offers powerful tools for...
Can AI Help College Athletic Programs Win More Games?
edtechmagazine.com • 10/2/2025
Embracing artificial intelligence can help student-athletes stay on top of their busy lives and optimize their performance on the field.
Editorial: Training in sports: the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning
www.frontiersin.org • 3/17/2025
The potential applications of AI in sports are extensive and appear almost boundless, encompassing diverse fields such as training load assessment and...
Olympic AI Agenda: How can AI benefit you?
www.olympics.com • 5/27/2024
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a huge impact on modern society, but how can it be harnessed to benefit athletes?
More Career Info
Career: Athletic Trainers
They help athletes stay healthy by preventing injuries, treating them when they occur, and guiding recovery to keep them performing at their best.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$62,520
Jobs (2024)
33,900
Growth (2024-34)
+11.1%
Annual Openings
2,400
Education
Master's degree
Experience
None
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2024-2034
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Perform general administrative tasks, such as keeping records or writing reports.
2
Accompany injured athletes to hospitals.
3
Perform team support duties, such as running errands, maintaining equipment, or stocking supplies.
4
Travel with athletic teams to be available at sporting events.
5
Massage body parts to relieve soreness, strains, or bruises.
6
Care for athletic injuries, using physical therapy equipment, techniques, or medication.
7
Apply protective or injury preventive devices, such as tape, bandages, or braces, to body parts, such as ankles, fingers, or wrists.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
