The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) has an important role in making sure that student athletes are healthy and prepared to participate in sports. The PIAA’s Sports Medicine Guidelines has advisory information on key topics, like return to play for concussion and rules on the pre-participation examination for student athletes.
 
In many places, access to a health care provider for treatment of a sports injury or a pre-participation exam can be limited, and despite this the PIAA’s policy does not currently have a role for chiropractors in school sports, including those with advanced certifications in sports medicine covering cardiovascular, pulmonary and neurologic conditions.
 
To expand access to school sports medicine and allow chiropractors’ expertise to be utilized in the school sports context, particularly those with advanced certifications, we plan to introduce legislation that will add the Sports Medicine Policy to the list of policies that PIAA is required to adopt. The PIAA would be required to consider advanced professional certifications in determining the role that a chiropractor can play in a school sports context.
 
Our legislation will make sure that every provider who is qualified to work in school sports can contribute to making sure our children are healthy enough to play and compete, so please join us in co-sponsoring the legislation.