Tanner News

Near the end of every school year, student athletes begin gearing up and getting ready for the next sports season. But before they can take to the field or the gym, they’re required to complete a yearly physical exam — and two local clinics are partnering again to provide them for free.

In one of their biggest community efforts of the year, Southern Therapy Services Inc. and Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic, along with dozens of physicians and clinical practitioners from around the area, have partnered to provide free sports physicals to local high school students for the upcoming school year.

The free physicals will be provided to students — freshmen through 12th grade — on Thursday, April 18, at the Southern Therapy outpatient facility in Carrollton.

Each participating school’s athletic department will coordinate the students’ physicals on Thursday and provide transportation to and from the facility. Students will need to have the proper paperwork and consent forms signed and completed to be given a physical. All necessary paperwork is available from each school’s athletic department.

Patrick Rothschadl, MS, ATC/L, director of sports medicine for Southern Therapy, has been organizing the free yearly sports physicals for more than ten years, and he has helped the program grow to include even more schools from around west Georgia, serving hundreds of students each year.

“We’ve been providing physicals for 35 years, and over those years, it has grown tremendously,” said Rothschadl. “We usually provide an average of about 1,200 to 1,500 physicals per year. When I started coordinating the physicals in 2006, we had eight schools participate. This year we’ll have 12 high schools from around the community participating.”

Physicals are available year-round by appointment at Carrollton Orthopaedic Clinic; however, this effort once a year provides students the opportunity to have a yearly sports physical completed free of charge. For more information, please contact your school’s athletic department.