Is Your Child Healthy Enough For Sports?

For years, you’ve enjoyed watching your pre-teen participate in athletic competition. And although most parents are obligated to have their child see a doctor for well visits prior to taking the field, those early-age physicals are more often than not standard tests.

Naturally, every loving parent wants to make sure their child is healthy enough to compete. But the majority of people sometimes assume that because their child is, for lack of a better phrase, just a child, that they’re healthy.


Physicians First Messages wants to remind you that your child is never too young to receive an advanced health screening, just to make sure everything from their heart to brain is functioning normally.

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And this is especially true if your son or daughter is on the verge of entering high school and hoping to compete on an athletic team. The truth of the matter is, your child will be running that much harder, competing much more physically and, in some cases, expected to withstand hard hits.

Simply put, a standard physical is not good enough. Doctors can’t detect a serious heart problem by just using a stethoscope or checking a pulse.

To make sure your child’s heart is fit for athletic competition, they should have blood pressure testing, EKGs, echocardiograms and glucose strip testing.

According to Anthony J. Saglimbeni, MD, of Medscape, a recent study of 964 athletes found abnormalities in 35 percent of echocardiograms. In all, 0.6 percent of the athletes had conditions that required them to stop competing or receive further treatment or evaluations in addition to an echocardiogram.


Concussions, of course, have been a hot topic in recent years from pro to youth athletes. But you shouldn’t wait for a possible concussion to occur before your child gets treated.

An ImPACT Test (short for Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test) is a baseline screening that tests, among other things, verbal and visual memory and processes speed and reaction time. When an athlete is being tested for a concussion, a neurologist will be able to match-up the results of a concussion to the baseline screening an ImPACT Test provides.

Your child’s health is paramount. Before they take the field, especially at an advanced age, Physicians First Messages implores you to take the proper measures to make sure your child is healthy and fit.

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Sincerely,

John Calhoun,
CEO, President
Physicians First Message's, Inc.