Abstract
More than 7 million adolescents regularly compete in high school athletics each year in the United States.1 Most will undergo a limited, sports-oriented preparticipation evaluation before competition.2 This type of examination has been performed for many years to satisfy various legal, academic, and organizational requirements. However, the health care benefits to the teenagers themselves have not been analyzed objectively using direct comparison to the standard history and physical. At present, the value of the sports physical remains unproven and its efficacy has not been clearly established. In addition, the potential negative impact on delivery of comprehensive medical services to adolescents deserves further emphasis in the literature and, therefore, will be the focus of this commentary.
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