Sporting at a non-competitive level requires a medical examination with a health check and a healthy and robust constitution as well as the execution or vision of the basic electrocardiogram (ECG).
Who has to be certified:
- Students who practice physical-sports activities outside school hours, meaning those organised by schools outside school hours
- Anyone practising sport with companies associated with Italian sports federations and the Italian Olympic Committee (but who are not considered competitive athletes)
- Anyone taking part in the Student Sports Games in the phases preceding the national one
Who are the certifying physicians?
- GP for their patients
- Paediatrician freely chosen by their patients
- Physician specialising in sports medicine or the doctors belonging to the Italian Sports Medicine Federation of the Italian National Olympic Committee
When to do the checks and how long the certification lasts
- The control must be annual
- The certificate is valid for one year from the date of issue
Which types of clinical examinations are required
- A medical history and objective examination with blood pressure measurement and a resting ECG at least once in a lifetime is required to obtain the certificate
- For people over 60 years of age and associated with other cardiovascular risk factors, a baseline ECG duly reported annually is required
- Also for people regardless of age, who have chronic and documented chronic diseases that increase cardiovascular risk, a baseline ECG duly reported annually is required.
- The physician may also request other tests that he or she thinks are necessary or consult a specialist.
What is the ECG? Electrocardiogram acronym
The electrocardiogram is an ambulatory diagnostic test allowing to record and graphically display the heart’s electrical activity. An important tool to “read” the state of health of your heart. Using the ECG electrodes, 6 in the chest and 4 in the limbs, it is like watching our heart from 10 different perspectives: they analyze its functionality, structure and cardiac activity.
You can observe some alterations:
- of the heart beat,
- of the regularity frequency,
- of electrical cycle duration,
- or irregularity in the heart signal amplitude
Is the ECG examination dangerous or painful?
The examination is safe and painless. Some electrodes are applied to the patient, connected through electrical leads to a device called electrocardiograph. The electrodes and leads captures and transmits the heart’s electrical activity to the electrocardiograph, where it is processed and displayed in the form of a graphic trace.
The only precaution for the athlete is: do not speak and remain calm and motionless.