My OperaWhat is a medical
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12:26:04 AM
Joe Cole will undergo a medical after agreeing terms on a four-year deal at Liverpool - but what does that actually mean? We spoke to Dr Peter Brukner, the club's Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science, to find out...
The purpose of a medical is to determine whether someone is fit to play football and there are a number of different components to it.
The first thing is the general medical examination in which we look at the heart, lung, abdomen and so on, just to see if there is an underlying illness which is either known about or is undetected. As part of that, we will do some heart tests and look at the electrical activity in the heart and then we look to see if there are any structural abnormalities as well.
This is becoming widespread now in terms of football. It's a screening tool to make sure the players are fit to play.
That's the medical part of the examination and then we move on to the injury and skeletal side of it. That involves taking a very comprehensive history of previous injuries and then going through a very thorough examination of the different joints. We look at the neck, back, hips, knees, hamstrings and so on.
You may or may not then go on to do physical tests. If someone has had a recent problem or if you see something in the examination which isn't quite right, then you may do an MRI scan just to give you some further information. We may also do some blood tests just to check for any abnormalities.
It's a matter of gathering all the information you need to be able to say to the club that this person is fit enough to play football.
As a pre-employment medical it's probably as thorough as you would ever get but the club are investing a lot of money in new players and it's very important that we know everything about their medical history.
The examination takes up to an hour and a half and then it depends how many other tests you do before you can work out how long it will be before the results come back. Cardiac tests can take a morning or afternoon and if we do blood tests then it can take up to 24 hours for those results to come back.
All in all it can take up to 48 hours before you really know what's going on. If everything is fine and straightforward then it may only take up to a couple of hours before you can say yes.
Source: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/what-is-a-medical
I think it is useful information for us. Appreciate it
The purpose of a medical is to determine whether someone is fit to play football and there are a number of different components to it.
The first thing is the general medical examination in which we look at the heart, lung, abdomen and so on, just to see if there is an underlying illness which is either known about or is undetected. As part of that, we will do some heart tests and look at the electrical activity in the heart and then we look to see if there are any structural abnormalities as well.
This is becoming widespread now in terms of football. It's a screening tool to make sure the players are fit to play.
That's the medical part of the examination and then we move on to the injury and skeletal side of it. That involves taking a very comprehensive history of previous injuries and then going through a very thorough examination of the different joints. We look at the neck, back, hips, knees, hamstrings and so on.
You may or may not then go on to do physical tests. If someone has had a recent problem or if you see something in the examination which isn't quite right, then you may do an MRI scan just to give you some further information. We may also do some blood tests just to check for any abnormalities.
It's a matter of gathering all the information you need to be able to say to the club that this person is fit enough to play football.
As a pre-employment medical it's probably as thorough as you would ever get but the club are investing a lot of money in new players and it's very important that we know everything about their medical history.
The examination takes up to an hour and a half and then it depends how many other tests you do before you can work out how long it will be before the results come back. Cardiac tests can take a morning or afternoon and if we do blood tests then it can take up to 24 hours for those results to come back.
All in all it can take up to 48 hours before you really know what's going on. If everything is fine and straightforward then it may only take up to a couple of hours before you can say yes.
Source: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/what-is-a-medical
I think it is useful information for us. Appreciate it
