The health and safety principle of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s constitution provides that it is the responsibility of each member institution to protect the health of, and provide a safe environment for, each of its participating student-athletes.

To provide guidance in accomplishing this objective and to assist member schools in developing a safe intercollegiate athletics program, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports creates a Sports Medicine Handbook.

The committee has agreed to formulate guidelines for sports medicine care and protection of student-athletes’ health and safety for topics relevant to intercollegiate athletics, applicable to a large population of studentathletes, and not accessible in another easily obtainable source.

This handbook consists of guidelines for each institution to consider in developing sports medicine policies appropriate for its intercollegiate athletics program.

In some instances, accompanying references to sports medicine or legal resource materials are provided for further guidance. These recommendations are not intended to establish a legal standard of care that must be strictly adhered to by member institutions. In other words, these guidelines are not mandates that an institution is required to follow to avoid legal liability or disciplinary sanctions by the NCAA. However, an institution has a legal duty to use reasonable care in conducting its intercollegiate athletics program, and guidelines may constitute some evidence of the legal standard of care.

These general guidelines are not intended to supersede the exercise of medical judgment in specific situations by a member institution’s sports medicine staff. In all instances, determination of the appropriate care and treatment of student-athletes must be based on the clinical judgment of the institution’s team physician or athletic health care team that is consistent with sound principles of sports medicine care. These recommendations provide guidance for an institution’s athletics administrators and sports medicine staff in protecting student-athletes’ health and safety, but do not establish any rigid requirements that must be followed in all cases.

This handbook is produced annually and sent to directors of athletics, senior woman administrators, faculty athletics representatives, athletic trainers, team physicians, CHAMPS/Life Skills coordinators, student-athlete advisory committees and conference commissioners at each member institution in the fall.

Please view the NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook as a tool to help your institution develop its sports medicine administrative policies. Such policies should reflect a commitment to protecting your student-athletes’ health and well being as well as an awareness of the guidelines set forth in this handbook.

Download Sports Medicine Handbook, NCAA

PDF format, 2.5MB, 121Pages.

THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 6222
Indianapolis, Indiana 46206-6222
317/917-6222
http://www.ncaa.org

Eighteenth Edition
August 2006
Compiled By: David Klossner, Associate Director of Education Outreach.

FOREWORD
Shared Responsibility for Intercollegiate Sports Safety

Participation in intercollegiate athletics involves unavoidable exposure to an inherent risk of injury. However, student-athletes rightfully assume that those who sponsor intercollegiate athletics have taken reasonable precautions to minimize the risks of injury from athletics participation. In an effort to do so, the NCAA collects injury data in intercollegiate sports. When appropriate, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports makes recommendations to modify safety guidelines, equipment standards, or a sport’s rules of play.

It is important to recognize that rule books, safety guidelines, and equipment standards, while helpful means of promoting safe athletics participation, are themselves insufficient to accomplish this goal. To effectively minimize the risks of injury from athletics participation, everyone involved in intercollegiate athletics must understand and respect the intent and objectives of applicable rules, guidelines, and standards.

The institution, through its athletics director, is responsible for establishing a safe environment for its student-athletes to participate in its intercollegiate athletics program. Coaches should appropriately warn student-athletes about the sport’s inherent risks of injury and instruct them how to minimize such risks while participating in games, practices,
and training.

The team physician and athletic health care team should assume responsibility for developing an appropriate injury prevention program and providing quality sports medicine care to injured student-athletes.

Student-athletes should fully understand and comply with the rules and standard of play that govern their sports as well as follow established procedures to minimize their risk of injury.

In summary, all persons participating in, or associated with, an institution’s intercollegiate athletics program share responsibility for taking steps to reduce effectively the risk of injury during intercollegiate athletic competition.

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