Sports physicals refer to a physical exam that your child needs before they take part in a new sport, start a new season of a sport, or attend summer camp. While there are no national regulations, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Sports Medicine, and other renowned organizations recommend sports physicals at each new level of participation.
In this article, we will explore the significance of obtaining sports physicals, why pediatricians are the preferred choice for conducting them, and how to find a pediatrician offering the best sports physicals services.
Importance of Getting Sports Physicals
Sports physicals are crucial for ensuring that your child is healthy enough to participate in a physically demanding activity. These exams comprehensively assess a child’s overall health, identify underlying medical conditions, injuries, or health issues that could be exacerbated by sports participation.
Additionally, sports physicals help identify factors that can increase the risk of injuries during sports activities and provide personalized advice on training, nutrition, hydration, and injury prevention strategies. They can also be used to monitor the growth and development of young athletes, offering necessary vaccinations, and explaining changes in growth during appointments.
Ideally, sports physicals should be performed at least six weeks before participating in an activity as this allows adequate time for further evaluation, treatment, and rehabilitation of any identified health conditions.
Get Your Sports Physical with Your Pediatrician
Getting a sports physical with your child’s pediatrician is a recommended and convenient approach to ensure that your child is fit to participate in a sports activity or take on a new activity.There are numerous reasons why your child’s pediatrician should perform sports physicals, including the following.
1. Familiarity With Your Child’s Medical History
The first part of a sports physical involves a review of your child’s medical history. Unlike your child’s pediatrician, walk-in clinics and pop-up physical screening events only review the areas of your child’s history that are required by the physical forms. Moreover, these sports physicals providers do not know well enough about your child,making it difficult for them to accurately discuss and address your child’s important underlying health issues.
Your child’s pediatrician already has a thorough understanding of their medical history and pre-existing conditions, allergies, and past illnesses. Therefore, they are uniquely positioned to evaluate yourchild’s suitability for participating in sports. Physicals also allow pediatricians to assess any potential risks and make informed decisions regarding a child’s engagement in physical activity or a new activity.
2. Comprehensive Assessment
While other sports physical providers can only perform physical exams and screening tests, your child’s pediatrician can also assess your child’s mental and behavioral health.Thiscan help themdetermineif your child is mature enough to handle certain mentally challenging tasks they may face during sports or physical activity.
3. Comfort and Privacy
Sports physical examsinvolve checking your child’s height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, vision, hearing, posture, strength, and flexibility. It also involves an examination of the heart, lungs, ears, nose, throat, and abdomenas well as asking questions related to the child’s age sex, growth, and development.
Sports physicals that are performed as mass evaluations, usually in the school setting, involve physical exams and medical history discussion in a noisy environment with limited privacy.
Yourpediatrician’s office provides a quiet environment which makes it easier to perform accurate physical exams and provides more privacy to your child. This also allows for more time to discussthe confidential health issues of the athlete.
4. Tailored Recommendations
A pediatrician does not just identify the health conditions that may hinder a childfrom participating in sports activities but also providesexpert recommendations to address these issues. They provide advice and guidance based on a child’s unique abilities, needs, and limitations. These recommendations and guidance are designed to promote a child’s safety, health, and optimal performance during sports.
Typically, your child’s pediatrician will offer recommendations on injury prevention strategies, training modifications, nutritional guidance,hydration strategies, safety gear and equipment use, physical conditioning, and much more.
Tips To Find the Right Pediatrician
Here are some helpful tips that you can useto find the right pediatrician to conduct your child’s sports physicals:
- Ask for recommendations and referrals from your social circleand your other doctors like internists or family doctors.
- Ask your insurance provider.
- Verify the credentials and experience of the pediatrician.
- Read online patient reviews.
- Considered the location of the practice.
- Considerthe bedsidemanners of the pediatrician.
- Schedule aone-on-one consultation with them.
Children’s Sports Physicals in Westchase, Trinity, Lutz, and Palm Harbor
At Children’s Medical Center, we have highly trained and skilled pediatricians who offer yearly health checkups for your child to ensure that they are healthy and able to participate in school sports and other physical activities. Our pediatricians not only offer outstanding pediatric care but also perform hundreds of sports physicals every year for our student-athletes. Our pediatricians are available seven days a week at our convenient locations in greater Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
To know more about the services offered by our outstanding pediatricians or to make an appointment with us, call today at (727) 787-6335, or contact a location nearest you.
