The preparticipation athletic evaluation.

Each year, Louisiana physicians are called upon to carry out mandatory preparticipation evaluations on more than 70,000 high school athletes and 3,000 college athletes. There have been changes in the guidelines for these evaluations in the state over the last few years. Also, recent state legislation has offered protection for the physicians providing them. This article outlines these changes and provides basic guidelines for the preparticipation evaluation.