Telehealth Physical Therapy: More Than an Alternative to In Person Care of the Young Athlete.

The shift to telehealth due to COVID-19 revealed that a new care model for the young athlete, which combines in-person and virtual visits, could be an enhancement to in-person care alone. This clinical suggestion is novel as it discusses the utility of a hybrid care model for the young athlete, which has not yet been described. Interacting with the patient and family virtually in the home environment offers benefits that are difficult to achieve in the clinic. Opportunities such as the ability to custom tailor the home program with consideration of the patient's learning abilities, provide movement quality feedback outside of the clinical environment, observe parent/caregiver feedback, involve family members who may not be available to attend in-person visits, and the possibility of converting an in-person cancelation to a telehealth visit in order to maintain continuity of care, are examples of how this model may optimize treatment. Consideration of investigating the impact on clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness is recommended. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 5.

Increased number of electrocardiogram findings requiring additional cardiac examination in young athletes during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a case series.

We aimed to compare the results of electrocardiogram (ECG) examinations in young athletes from 2017 to 2020, which includes a period during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with special attention to T-wave inversion that might be a sign of myocarditis. This was a retrospective observational study. We reviewed data of ECG examinations among 640 young athletes aged 10 to 14 years (160 in each year from 2017-2020). The setting was Novi Sad Sports Medicine Center in Serbia. We hypothesized that most young athletes with changes on ECG had asymptomatic COVID-19. In the group from 2020, there were significantly more ECG findings requiring additional cardiac examination, according to modern sports cardiology, compared with previous years. We describe one case of documented asymptomatic COVID-19 infection and with T-wave inversion in V4 and V5. The number of schoolchildren with asymptomatic COVID-19 infection might be high because most classes in Novi Sad were conducted face-to-face during 2020. Because a serious risk of myocarditis exists in young athletes, especially in relation to COVID-19 infection, a careful sports preparticipation examination is important to identify athletes possibly requiring additional testing and medical care prior to a return to sports.