Throughout the year, many schools allow children to take part in a wide variety of sports. Playing sports is a fun way for children to get out of the house, enjoy exercising, and hanging out with friends. That being said, it’s important to make sure that your child is safely able to play sports. With that in mind, it’s often required that children complete sports physicals before they’re allowed on a team. Considering that, here are five things for males to expect while receiving a sports physical.

• Be Prepared to Fill Out Paperwork
  
  Before visiting a medical professional, you’ll need to fill out paperwork. This paperwork focuses on your medical history. It’s important to be as honest as possible while filling out these papers. In turn, the doctor will be able to have the most accurate information while assessing if you’re able to play team sports.
• Checking Vitals
  
  The next step is often to take measurements of your height and weight. After this, you’re usually guided into a patient room. Next, your vitals will be taken which includes examining your pulse and blood pressure. These are important to obtain while determining if you’re able to play team sports.
• Hearing and Vision Tests
  
  It’s important to make sure that someone is able to hear and see well before playing team sports. Therefore, vision and hearing tests are often administered as part of a sports physical. These tests are often quite easy to perform and shouldn’t take long for a medical professional to make an accurate assessment.
• Hernia Test
  
  While this part is often the most feared among those going in for physicals, it’s important to understand that this procedure is extremely quick. This test is performed in order to ensure that a child doesn’t currently have a hernia. If a child plays sports with a hernia, it could cause this medical ailment to become much worse and more painful.
• Additional Tests as Needed
  
  While the previously mentioned items cover what to expect during a typical physical, certain conditions can vary. For instance, one type of sport might require a more extensive physical than another. Considering that, your medical history can also affect what needs to be done during a physical. For instance, someone who hasn’t visited the doctor in a while might need to catch up on a few shots. In addition, certain patients might require x rays before giving the go ahead to play sports.

To summarize, there are several things to expect while receiving a standard sports physical. If you’re looking to have this test done as fast as possible, consider visiting an urgent care center. An urgent care center is often far more convenient than tracking down doctors in your area. Statistics show that 85% of urgent care facilities are open seven days per week. In addition, data gathered from the Urgent Care Association of America found that nearly 3 million patients visit these locations each week.