Exams urged for children

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“The mass school physical allows you to screen a large amount of kids in a short period time, so it’s cost effective,” Marshall said. “But in terms of having a good detailed cardiac exam, it may be too noisy if done in a gym or locker room and the parents and medical records are often absent. Therefore it is difficult to verify past medical history.”

Ideally, Marshall said, kids should get both a sports physical and an annual exam by their personal doctor.

“Most teens view their sports physical as their yearly trip to the doctor,” he said. “If that means just a mass screening at a school, you miss the opportunity to discuss sensitive issues such as drug abuse, birth control and sexuality.”

Kids, he said, are more apt to be honest in the privacy of an examination room with their pediatrician than in a crowded gym.

Although nearly 10 million kids play sports across the country, Marshall said that only one in 200,000 actually experiences sudden cardiac death.

A much-less tragic but more common problem, he said, is overuse, when a regimen of play and training is so intense that a kid’s body rebels, a condition that accounts for more than half of all sport injuries in his practice.

Also of major concern, Marshall said, is the fact that Georgia does not require all coaches to be CPR certified. “Early response can make a huge difference in saving a kid’s life,” he said.

While athletic injuries seem to be happening more frequently, Swearngin said they have always been a major issue.

“They’re just getting more attention because we’re now more aware of problems,” he said.

Swearngin, a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations rules committee, which writes and publishes the regulations for high school sports, said minimizing risks to youth is of major concern.

“We rely on medical advice but we’re not sitting back thinking we have all the answers,” he said. “We’re always looking to see if we can do a better job.”