Should an ECG be part of the preparticipation exam for the competitive athlete?
Unfortunately, ever now and so often, there are news that an apparently very healthy young athlete suffers a sudden cardiac event during training or in a match which is often fatal. The reported cause is an underlying heart problem that had not been known because, in a healthy athlete, who would think of that possibility.
I like to think that those deaths could have been prevented if an ECG had been administered.
In the current economy, people could argue that the cost would be immense considering the very small number of cases that happened.
I would not want to make that argument to the mothers and fathers of those young people.
Let the health care professional doing the pre-participation exam make that call. There is no reason for a trainer to get into that arena. EKG is a medical exam. It is way out of the scope of practice for a trainer. Remember, trainers are not supposed to treat or diagnose disease. Even suggesting an EKG and other medical tests is treading into the realm of practicing medicine. Same thing goes for recommending a client get MRI or xrays or physical therapy. That’s getting in to a gray zone, liability-wise.
