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The European Society of Athletic Therapy and Training (ESATT) is a group of allied health professionals that was formed with the intent of providing health care for all physically active people. One of the goals of the group has been to create a version of successful profession that operate in other countries, most notably the United States and Canada, but also in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Mission Statement
As stated on their web site http://www.esatt.eu/Site/en.html: "The European Society of Athletic Therapy and Training is formed with the goal to bring together varying disciplines in order to create a harmonization of training and skill level among Allied Health professionals, and the Society is dedicated to the well being of all sportspersons. We believe that all athletes deserve expertise in management and rehabilitation of their injuries; that this should not be limited to professionals but extended to all levels of sport; that the role of the health professional is not merely triage and first aid, but a return to activity in the most timely and safe fashion; that a proactive approach based on the correction of predisposing factors is the best sports medicine; and that there is a need to establish a baseline of professionalism and competency standards among the member states of the EU.

The European Society of Athletic Therapy and Training seeks to foster communication among the relevant professionals in member states, to promote collaborative research among the members and to ensure a quality of care and comparable level of ability to treat athletes of all levels."

Current issues with health care for Sports people in the EU
In the 27 member states of the EU, there is a wide variety of levels of care for sports participants. All of these are based with the various national health services. What these services cannot provide is immediate care for the athletes nor the end stage functional rehabilitation (ESFR) that is essential to prevent re-injury.

In some countries, this level of care is available for only the high-level professionals, such as in the United Kingdom with the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Sports Medicine. At lower levels of sports, there is little if anything available in the way of ESFR. Importantly, the best opportunity to diagnose musculoskeletal trauma is within the first 20 minutes of injury, the so-called Golden Window. Often, by the time an athlete gets to the local Emergency Department, effusion and edema make physical exam difficult and can also interfere with imaging. Similarly, there is substantial evidence to indicate that if appropriate treatment can be initiated soon after the initial injury, there is a quicker return to activity.

Athletes are also faced with the issue of re-injury following the initial episode. This may stem from a muscle imbalance, altered  range of motion ( whether reduced or hypermobility, muscle atrophy, or proprioception deficit, among other factors. One of the aspects that ESATT seeks to foster is the development of a profession which is dedicated to the well being of physical; active people. The focus is on being proactive and reducing time loss to injury, not simply reacting to the injury and treating symptoms.

This does not currently exist in a consistent format within the EU. Furthermore, there no standardized level of training, thus there is no professional portability between member states. ESATT plans to develop an Erasmus MSC in the field of sports health care, and establish norms of managing sports related injuries. With the current emphasis that many countries have put on increasing physical activity, there is obvious potential for this profession to be an integral part of the health service, in reducing the number of emergency department visits as well as reducing time loss, whether form work or sports.

Professional Development
ESATT has planned a profesional meetign for June 4-5, 2010 near Kakow. The title is "At the fore-front of athletes-care: A European framework of applicable knowledge and standards in practice". The information is available at their web site http://www.esatt.eu/Site/

Education
One of the goals of ESATT is to create an avenue for post-graduate studies, focuing on health care for athletes.

Currently, there are a number of EU based universities involved in this initiative: Dublin City University University of Padua AWF Katowice University of Salford Saint Mary's University University of Worcester

Committees
Education

Noel McCaffery, MD, Dublin City University

Antonio Paoli, MD, PhD, University of Padua

Dani Sanchis Jimenez, Physiotherapist, FC Barcelona

Bill Tillson, MS, ATC, AC Milan Football Club

Michael Dwyer, BSc (Hons) Greenwich Community College

Administration

Gene Elizabeth Verel, MA, ATC, Chair, Dublin City University

Lieven Maesschalck, Move to Cure, Antwerp

Bill Tillson, MS, ATC, AC Milan Football Club

Marco Manca, MD, PhD, Maastricht University

Alice Mooney, MSc, MSMA, University of Worcester

Research

Marco Manca, MD, PhD, Chair, University of Maastricht

Andriy Cherkas, MD, PhD, National Medical University, Lvov

Krzysztof Ficek, MD, PhD, Osrodek Medyczny Galen

Bill Tillson, MS, ATC, AC Milan Football

Relevant allied health profesions outside of Europe
National Athletic Trainers Association http://www.nata.org/

Canadian Athletic Therapists Association http://www.athletictherapy.org/

Japanese Athletic Training Organization http://www.jato-trainer.org

Taiwan (Republic of China) Athletic Trainers' Society

Korean Athletic Trainers' Association http://www.webkata.org