Book excerpt: Principles of Athletic Training: A Guide to Evidence-Based Clinical Practice is designed to be used by athletic trainers in courses concerned with the scientific, evidence-based and clinical foundations of athletic training and sports medicine. The text is developed with the goal of helping prepare students to become competent health care professionals who will continue to enhance the ongoing advancement of the athletic training profession. The text leads the student from general foundations to specific concepts relative to injury prevention, evaluation, management, and rehabilitation. As the student progresses from beginning to end, he or she will understand the complexities of the profession of athletic training. An over-arching goal of the text is to incorporate the best available evidence to support the recommendations being made relative to patient care. After using this text the student should be able to apply the appropriate techniques and concepts in the day-to-day performance of his or her job as an athletic trainer. Practicing athletic trainers, physical therapists, and other health care professionals involved with physically active individuals will also find this text valuable. McGraw-Hill Connect® is a subscription-based learning service accessible online through your personal computer or tablet. Choose this option if your instructor will require Connect to be used in the course. Your subscription to Connect includes the following: SmartBook® 2.0- an adaptive digital version of the course textbook that personalizes your reading experience based on how well you are learning the content. Access to your instructors homework assignments, quizzes, syllabus, notes, reminders, and other important files for the course.Progress dashboards that quickly show how you are performing on your assignments and tips for improvement.