The college athlete

Participation in sports is important to many college students. Student athletes come from different levels of previous sport experience as they enter collegiate athletics. The primary source of student medical care is the campus student health center. The health care providers at student health centers attend to many of the sports-related concerns of student athletes. Preparticipation evaluation provides an opportunity to assess the general health of the student athlete and to identify conditions that might increase the risk of further injury. Sudden cardiac death and sports-associated concussions have generated much interest and are reviewed in this article. Other areas reviewed here include use of drugs and supplements, ankle sprains, acute knee ligament injuries, back pain, and shoulder impingement syndrome.