A new school year is imminent, and medical professionals are encouraging student athletes to schedule their physicals as soon as possible. Dr. Evan Werk with Banner Sports Health indicated that it’s an important step in determining if young athletes are healthy before the season begins. It also enables doctors to screen for common and serious issues, like cardiac stress or problems with the heart. If some of these things are detected on time, then it can help prevent more serious health complications down the road. 

”It’s certainly the worst thing that can happen which is why kind of we stress this so much, again in addition to some of the other things we can do at the same time with preventative health, making sure that those injuries and other medical problems are well controlled,” said Werk. 

Banner Health, a non-profit health system based in Phoenix, Arizona will also be offering a new product that can help to identify concussions more efficiently. Brainscope will be available at some urgent care facilities around the city. According to its website, Brainscope is a medical neuro-technology company that is pioneering the assessment of brain injury, including concussion. The company’s innovative BrainScope One system is an easy-to-use, non-invasive, hand-held platform that empowers physicians to make more accurate head injury assessments quickly at the point-of-care. The new product uses electrodes to scan for bleeding in the brain and is recommended for select patients that’ve suffered a minor head injury within the past three days.

Banner Health is offering students $25 physicals at Banner Primary Care offices and the Banner Sports Medicine and Concussion Center, in addition to Banner Urgent Cares around Phoenix.