School and Sports Physicals in Newport, TN
When it’s time for your child to start school, most schools require a physical before the beginning of the year. This helps make sure that your child is up to date on immunizations and that they are healthy and can endure activities throughout the school year. It’s important to consider school and sports physicals for every age and make sure that your child is ready for what may come their way. Physicals also help pediatricians spot any issues that your child may be dealing with that needs treatment.
Getting a School Physical For Your Child
As your child gets ready to start school, it’s important that they’re getting their annual school physical to make sure that they stay healthy and that issues are caught at an early stage. Each grade has different requirements for physicals and it’s important to understand what that might be. If your child is going into preschool, daycare, or regular school, there are different forms that they may need. You should understand what the requirements might be or know to ask your pediatrician ahead of time.
During a school physical, your child’s pediatrician will check their height and weight. This helps them understand what your child’s body might be like and if there are any adjustments that need to be made to their lifestyle. You can ask any questions that you might have and voice any concerns about your child’s health.
They will also have every area of their body checked. This is to make sure that they aren’t dealing with any unnoticed issues. This could be vision issues or asthma. Once a problem is diagnosed, your child’s pediatrician will be able to start treatment as soon as possible.
The Importance of Sports Physicals For Your Child
A sports physical, also referred to by some schools as a pre-participation physical examination (PPE), is a comprehensive health exam performed by our team of pediatricians to make sure that your child is healthy enough to play sports. Your child’s sports physical is separate from their annual examination and won’t take the place of their yearly wellness checkup.
Detecting health problems through these physical examinations doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t play sports; however, it’s important to identify health issues early on in your child so that we can provide them with medication, lifestyle changes and even modifications to their current activities to prevent serious health complications.
For example, a child with asthma may be prescribed both a daily and a rescue inhaler to help control their symptoms throughout the day, even when playing sports. By providing your child with the medications and treatment they need now, we can prevent serious complications from happening.
Since your child’s health can change dramatically in just one year, it’s important that you bring your child into our office for their sports physical every year, approximately 4-6 weeks before the start of the school year.