On any given day, a Certified Athletic Therapist might be courtside at a university basketball game, embedded with a police tactical unit, walking a manufacturing floor, or sitting across from a weekend runner who just wants to make it through a 5K without their knee giving out. The settings look nothing alike and the people couldn’t be more different. But something essential connects every one of those interactions, and it isn't the treatment table. It's trust.
This Athletic Therapy Month, the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association (CATA) celebrates what it truly means to be in good hands. To be cared for by someone who listens before they act, who sees the whole person before they narrow in on the injury, and who understands that the best outcomes are built not in a single session, but over time, through honesty, consistency, and genuine human connection. To explore what that looks like in 2026, we sat down with two people who have spent their careers living it and now help lead the profession that defines it.
Schad Richea, President of CATA, says one of the biggest shifts in Athletic Therapy has been the profession’s expansion beyond traditional sport settings. The connection to sport remains central to Athletic Therapy, but the profession now reaches far beyond the sidelines. Certified ATs work with what Richea describes as “industrial athletes” — people whose jobs and daily lives place repetitive physical demands on their bodies, from healthcare workers to tradespeople to musicians. “We take that sports medicine model and that active model and apply it to those who maybe don’t feel that they are athletes,” he said.
Becky Swan, Vice President of CATA, experienced that expansion firsthand. Early in her career, finding work wasn't easy because the job postings simply weren't there. But the landscape has shifted, and she watched it happen in real time. Clinics. Ergonomics. Industrial worksites. Tactical environments. Then, in 2010, Becky took a turn that changed the shape of her career entirely. She began working with a police department. "I didn't know it was possible," she said.
Sixteen years later, she's still in policing, and what that role has grown into tells you everything about where Athletic Therapy is headed. In her current position, Becky's scope of practice stretches far beyond the treatment room. Injury assessment and rehabilitation, of course, but also strength and conditioning, mental health tools and resources, financial wellness programming, and family wellness support. That adaptability didn't come from a course designed specifically for tactical settings but from something more fundamental: a deep understanding of the human body, how it moves, and how it responds to stress.
Schad frames this transferability in similar terms. The sports medicine model that Athletic Therapy was built on — active, individualized, and focused on what you can do rather than what you can't — turns out to apply beautifully to anyone living an active life. "We tend to look at anybody who's an active person," he said, whether that's an elite athlete, a musician managing repetitive strain, or someone in manufacturing doing the same motion hundreds of times per shift. The term he and his colleagues coined captures it well: the industrial athlete. "We've expanded beyond our basic definition," Schad said, "and moved on to try to incorporate and welcome other people who are living and wanting to have an active lifestyle."
For all the ways the profession has grown, Becky and Schad are both quick to point to the things that haven't changed — and shouldn't. For Becky, the first one that comes to mind is patient care. But she pushes past the clinical language quickly, landing on something more specific: listening. "They're going to tell you what the injury is," she said, "whether they know it or not."
A thorough history intake is where care actually begins. And it only works when the person on the table feels safe enough to tell you the truth about their pain, their habits, their life outside the clinic. In Becky's world, that trust is especially hard-won. Police officers, in her experience, do not extend it easily. Building a relationship with that population requires patience, consistency, and a genuine commitment to showing up as a human being first. "You can get a lot of positive outcomes just from that interaction — not just from the hands-on."
There's a physiological dimension to this that Becky is passionate about. When a person doesn't feel safe, when their nervous system is in a state of protection, their body is less able to accept treatment because it's directing its resources elsewhere. But when trust is established, something shifts. The body relaxes into the process. "Extra kudos," Becky said, "if they fall asleep on the table. That's the biggest compliment. It means their body is saying, ‘Okay, I know what we're here for. Let's dive in.’"
Working in a university sport setting, Schad makes a point of having what he calls "peacetime conversations" with coaches during the off-season, when the stakes are low and there's space to establish mutual understanding. By the time a difficult decision needs to be made about an athlete's health, the relationship is already there. "I want them to trust that if bad news is coming down the hallway," he said, "we've tried every permutation and combination of different things to try to get them to play, but they just can't."
That kind of honest, open communication, he believes, is what separates good care from great care. And the goal, always, is to find a way forward. "It's more rewarding to everybody if you try every possible way to make things better," he said.
Both Becky and Schad point to curiosity as one of the most underrated qualities in the profession. "We're never going to know everything about the human body," Becky said, "and we will always have a twist to an injury that we might think is standard." Maintaining the habit of asking ‘What am I not seeing?’ and of staying open to what you might be missing is what keeps care honest and effective.
For Becky, that curiosity has led her deep into the field of trauma-informed care over the past five years. Working with police officers means working with people who are regularly exposed to traumatic events. What she's learned is that trauma doesn't stay out of the treatment room. It lives in the body, changes how it moves, and can show up in ways that look like a straightforward musculoskeletal injury.
"Somebody might have seen a horrible scene yesterday," she said, "and today, it just depends on where they're at and on whether it's actually going to trigger a response." Schad echoes this emphasis on individualization. The best Athletic Therapy care, he says, asks what this person needs, what their goals are, and how to design something that makes them want to show up and do the work. "Let's count the wins," he said, "instead of worrying about the losses."
If you've never worked with a Certified AT before, here's what Becky wants you to know: you can expect someone who looks at the whole picture before narrowing in on the specific concern. Someone who will identify connections in your body that you didn't know existed, and explain them in a way that makes sense. Someone who will give you the tools to take care of yourself. Not to keep you coming back indefinitely, but to help you move through the world better on your own. And from assessment to return to activity, they can be there for the whole journey. "We can be that start-to-finish package," Becky said.
Schad's long-term vision for Certified Athletic Therapists is clear: provincial regulation, health profession acts in every province, insurance coverage as standard practice, and Certified ATs consulted in the media when injuries, sports-related or otherwise, are discussed. He wants the grassroots recognition to match what already exists at the elite level. "I don't see a difference between the care," he said. "It's a matter of understanding and recognizing that Certified Athletic Therapy care is for everybody — and it’s available for everybody."
Whether you're an athlete recovering from injury, a professional trying to stay functional through a physically demanding career, or someone who just wants to get back to doing what you love, you’re in good hands with a Certified Athletic Therapist. .png)