After I wrote on this post about my girlfriend's friend coming over for a visit, and their subsequent conversation about her friend's daughter getting a sports physical, I asked my girlfriend about her sports physicals she had while in high school. She was on three varsity sports teams, cheerleading, with all the stunts, swimming, and softball. So she has had many sports physicals. I asked her to give me every detail of her most thorough sports physical, and this is what she told me. I will tell it from her perspective.....
About a month before the start of my sophomore year, when I was 15, we had a team meeting for the cheerleaders. There they told us that on the day of our first practice, first thing in the morning, at 8 am sharp, we would have our sports physicals. We were then given our uniforms and practice gear. We were told to wear our practice gear for the physicals. Our practice gear consisted of a maroon spandex sports bra, and maroon low rise hip hugger spandex short shorts. That morning came and we all arrived. We were told to go to the ladies locker room. There, those that were wearing t shirts or sweat shirts over their sports bras, and those wearing something over their spandex shorts, were told to remove them and place them in their lockers. We were also told to remove our sneakers. We were able to keep our white anklet socks on. So there we all were, in just our sports bras, spandex short shorts, and anklet socks. We then took our medical history forms and physical exam forms with us to the open area of the locker room. There we met the doctor, his nurse, and the school nurse. They had us line up in rows. From what I've heard about how military entrance physicals are performed, this was a similar setup. The doctor had us do all kinds of exercises, like bend over and touch our toes, do a few squats, rotate our arms around in circles, walk on our heels, walk on our toes, squat down and do the duck walk, etc. The doctor and two nurses watched all of us, making sure everyone passed these balance, strength, and range of motion tests. We all did. The doctor then told us to get in line, the school nurse and his nurse would start the preliminary exams, like height and weight, blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. After they get several of us done, his nurse will start bringing those girls to the coaches office, where she will accompany each girl in for him to examine. So it began. I wound up being second in line. After about five of us had the prelims done, the doctor's nurse took us five down the short hallway to the coaches office. The school nurse would continue with the rest of the prelims. I was still second in line. The nurse took the first girl in. The door closed, and after several minutes, the first girl came out. She looked a little upset. Before I could ask her why, or before I could hear her tell the other girls, the nurse told me to go in. Now I was getting nervous. I thought oh no, what is he going to do to me. I went in and the nurse came in behind me and shut the door. The doctor had just finished changing the exam table paper. The exam table was actually a trainer's type table. It was always in the corner of the coaches office. I looked around and saw that the blinds to all the windows were closed. The doctor had out his stethoscope, tongue depressors, otoscope, opthamaloscope, little rubber hammer, and, gulp, a box of latex gloves! I thought oh no, I don't want THAT exam! The doctor took my forms, told me to sit on the table, and filled out the part with all the exercises we did earlier. Then he checks my eyes, ears, nose, and throat. Then he checks the glands in my neck. Then he listens to my lungs and heart, all the while I'm staring at that box of gloves. He then takes the little rubber hammer and checks the reflexes on my knees, wrists, and elbows. Then he runs the handle end on the bottoms of my feet. He tells me to lie back. He listens to my heart some more. Then, with my sports bra still on, he does a "mini" breast exam. He does this by putting on the latex gloves and feeling deep in my armpits, and only feeling the outside edges of my breasts near my armpits. He never touched my actual breasts. I thought, phew, that's what the gloves are for! Then he listens to my abdomen, then does a very deep and thorough abdominal exam, from my ribcage down to my low rise spandex shorts. He then lifts the waistband and feels all the way down to my pubic bone, pushing firmly. He then let's go of the waistband, and I think it's over. He then pulls a glove from the box. My heart sank. He tells me he is going to check me for an inguinal hernia and a femoral hernia. I had never heard of such a thing for girls, much less had that done to me before. While I'm still lying down he tells me to lower my shorts to just about my crotch area. He pulls on the glove as I lower my shorts to expose my mons. He reaches down and places two fingers just to the right of my vagina, at the top near my mons. He tells me to turn my head and cough. I did. He said cough harder and I did. He then placed the two fingers to the left of my vagina, at the top near my mons. He told me again, and I did. He then placed two fingers in the crease of my thigh where the femoral artery runs and checks my pulse, then has me cough again. He repeats on the other side, and I cough one more time. He takes off the glove and says all done, you can pull up your shorts and sit up. As I do he fills out my physical exam form, tells me I passed my physical, and says to give the forms to the school nurse and go see my coach at the lockers. His nurse opens the door as I'm hopping down from the table and she walks me out. The other girls obviously now knew what awaited them, as they were quiet and had a look of apprehension on their faces. The first girl told them all about the exam! I never had a hernia check like that again. My own doctor did my sports physicals after that.