College Life
College Life
Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major
State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major
- Ohio State University
- University of South Florida
- University of Michigan
- University of California—Los Angeles (UCLA)
- University of Pittsburgh
Classes in the Major
Psychology. A wise man once said, "90% of the game is half mental." While this was clearly the ravings of a madman (or Yankees great Yogi Berra), it's not entirely incorrect. An athlete's mental state can contribute to injury and it can help or hinder recovery. Scientists are still not quite sure how this happens; they usually just throw their arms up and say, "We dunno, X-Men?" when anyone asks. It's important for you to understand your patients' minds as well as their bodies. You're not going to be doing any deep psychotherapy with them, but knowing a good pep talk might be helpful.
Biology. Come on, you knew this was coming. Unless you didn't know the human body was alive. If that's the case, have a serious talk with your science teacher. Right now. Biology is all about giving you a general understanding of living things. It's important as the foundation in any related field. After all, the human body doesn't operate any differently from other warm-blooded mammals. Once you get the basics down, you can start to work towards more specific areas of study.
Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries. This is the money class, so you better do well in it. Get a thorough understanding of all the terrible ways the body can betray itself in athletic competition…and then learn how to fix it. The title pretty much says it all. That's your specialty. You're learning it. Cool, huh?
Kinesiology. This has one of those intimidating Greek names, but don't worry. It's nothing scary. The word comes from the roots "to move" and "to study." It's the study of human movement, or as it's also known: doing stuff. Sports are pretty motion-intensive, since no one has ever tried to create a sport where everyone just sat quietly for ninety minutes. Or if they have, no one's watching. In any case, knowing how the human body should and can move is great preparation for how the human body shouldn't but accidentally did move. You'll learn about getting it to move in the right ways for healing.
Physics. Yep, it's a hard science. What, you thought it would all be throwing the ball around? Sorry, but this is science, and science means study. A general study of the way motion works can help you apply it to the human body. Combining physics with kinesiology, biology, and an understanding of injury gives you the perfect basis in knowing what's going on here. After all, until you know for certain how fast a body can whip around according to the laws of the universe, you won't know how badly it can hurt itself.