Presbyterian Sports Medicine will provide free pre-participation sports screenings to Union County student-athletes for the fourth consecutive year on Saturday, June 2. The service is available to all Union County Public Schools (UCPS) high school students, including rising ninth graders. Presbyterian’s Competitive Edge Sports Screening Day will be held at Weddington High School beginning at 8 a.m. and ending mid-afternoon; each school is assigned a specific block of time.
“We want to do everything we can to equip Union County’s youth athletes to participate in sports in a safe fashion,” said Eric Warren, M.D., medical director of the UCPS sports medicine program and a board-certified sports medicine and family medicine physician with Waxhaw Family Physicians & Sports Medicine Center.
A standard sports screening includes an overview of general health and family history, blood pressure and heart rate checks, lung and abdomen checks, strength and flexibility tests, vision testing and height and weight measurements. Presbyterian also provides baseline concussion vestibular balance testing and electrocardiograms (EKGs).
Rising ninth graders and above enrolled at a UCPS high school that offers athletics must pre-register for Presbyterian’s Competitive Edge Sports Screening Day by visiting www.presbyterian.org/edge or signing a consent form, completing a health questionnaire and returning both to the athlete’s school athletic director by Monday, May 28. These forms are available at all UCPS high schools that offer athletics.
Presbyterian Sports Medicine became the official healthcare provider for UCPS in 2010. The partnership provides full-time, certified athletic trainers for the county’s high schools, game-day medical coverage, CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training for first responders and assistance with emergency preparedness plans at the district and school level. Experts offer sports injury seminars and clinics to coaches and parents as well as nutrition education and other in-services, including concussion management, H1N1 flu, MRSA (a bacterial skin infection) and overall wellness programs.