How Personal Trainers Can Help Protect Against Personal Injury Lawsuits

If you're a personal trainer working for a gym or wellness company, the potential for your clients experiencing injury is higher than average. Normally, fitness establishments prepare for this problem by having customers sign waivers assuming liability for reasonable risks. However, waivers are not lawsuit-proof. There are certain things you should do as a personal trainer to help protect your clients from injury and thus avoid any expensive lawsuits.

Test For Functional Fitness

Even though you might be eager to get a new client started on difficult workouts right away, spending the first appointment on a functional fitness assessment is a great plan. If you are not able to perform a functional fitness assessment on your own, talk to the facility manager about hiring an exercise physiologist or a wellness consultant to do screenings for new clients. Functional fitness is not just testing for basic fitness levels-- it looks at movement patterns, muscle imbalances, and flexibility. Each client will have different "muscle memory" that affects how they move and workout.

For example, you will notice if a client is not able to keep his or her back naturally curved when doing a squat if they have poorly developed core muscles. Therefore, you will know that doing weight-bearing squats will likely cause injury at this time, since the client's functional fitness level is not adequate for this exercise. If you do this assessment, you will have proof in court that you took preventative measures to avoid injuries in all clients and tailored your workouts for your client's specific needs. In fact, not tailoring your workout plans for clients, as one trainer did in 2007, will make you look bad in court. 

Have Each Patient Complete A Physical

You can make it a policy to not accept any new patients if they have not completed a routine exam by a doctor. Require a doctor's note that states the client is able to physically participate in a rigorous training program. If the client does have a health problem, the doctor should outline the difficulties so you can accommodate them as necessary. This is especially important for middle-aged or elderly clients, as they are more likely to have health concerns like osteoporosis or high blood pressure.

The doctor's note helps to prevent lawsuits because if a patient is injured due to an unseen medical condition, you can show that you require patients to be screened by a health professional. Liability may shift to the doctor or back to the patient if they covered up a health problem that would have prevented you from taking them as a client. 

Play It Safe

You may have clients who want to try the newest "fads" in workouts, but you should stick with effective programs that you know are safe. Stay away from moves that are often performed incorrectly, like box jumps, and substitute them for safer moves that are easier to execute. Keeping your workout regimens on the safe side may deter "extreme" workout clients, but remember that you are the professional. If someone is injured trying a controversial or incorrect exercise, you could be the negligent party in a lawsuit. 

Stick To Your Area Of Expertise

As a personal trainer, you get to work one-on-one with clients, and you may develop a bond with them in their journey to better health. However, no matter how invested you are in their personal health journey, you should stick with training and leave medical or nutritional advice to doctors or dietitians. If a client tries a new supplement, for example, because of your recommendation and they are injured because of supplement use, you are the professional responsible for that injury. Because you are not privy to medical histories, allergies, or the types of medications your clients might be taking, steer away from giving advice as a professional that does not directly fall into your area of expertise. 

If you do have the misfortune of having a client become injured, don't hesitate to reach out to a personal injury lawyer for more information on defending your case. Go to websites of local professionals for more information.