Sports physicals are crucial for young athletes, here’s why

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Kids are headed back to school and back to the field, but before your student athlete takes part in those extracurricular activities, it is important to get a wellness checkup.

Lance Champagne, the Athletic Training Supervisor with Ochsner LSU Health, says these physicals can identify issues before the season starts.

“Our physicals give us a baseline of health for our student athletes, gives us a chance to get them in front of our doctors and get cardiovascular screenings,” explains Champagne.

He says wellness checkups of the heart and lungs can detect potential issues that could cause problems later on.

“We may have some athletes that have asthma, and we want to make sure that they have an inhaler. We want to look at do they have a past history with concussion that we may need to keep an eye on during the year,” says Champagne.

Champagne has this advice for parents:

“Listen to your kids. They’re going to tell you. I’m guilty of it, I have a young son that’s participating, and sometimes you kind of try to blow them off, but if they’re having some pain with something, listen to them, if it’s limiting their ability to participate in their sport, then we definitely need to get further exams on that.”