Sports Medicine Health Care Access in Michigan High Schools: Access to Athletic Trainers

Disparities in access to health care services may lead to poor health outcomes. Health care encounters in the adolescent age group are often due to sport participation. The presence of an athletic trainer in high schools can improve health outcomes in adolescent athletes, but not all student-athletes have access to an athletic trainer. In the state of Michigan, many high schools do not provide athletic trainer access to their student athletes. Our aim was to determine factors associated with the presence or absence of athletic trainer access in Michigan high schools. Disparities are associated with student body population, student-athlete population, and average household income in the zip code in which the school is located.