Clothing instructions for school physicals

One of the little things I remember about my school physicals that I think is kind of hot is that prior to the physical they mailed a notice to parents with dates and times (for summer physicals, parents would have to bring us to school) and the paper would have an instruction like "your son should wear loose-fitting clothing that can be opened up or removed quickly." Anyone else remember anything like that?

No, I remember instructions for lots of things in school, including dress codes and PE uniform requirements, but nothing about what to wear for a group physical exam at school. There wasn't any need. We all dressed about the same. Usually jeans, t-shirt, briefs, socks and tennis shoes. And we were almost always undressed about the same. Down to our briefs only. So there wasn't any reason to have "loose-fitting that can be opened up or removed quickly" since we were already undressed before the exam. I can see a notice to parents like that only if kids are going to stay dressed for most of the exam.

We were actually undressed for most of the exam but they would do some preliminary stuff in the areas set aside for waiting, like blood pressure, etc. And also they had a section of fitness tests. That plus the fact that part of the physical took place in set up stations in the gym and part took places in the health center down the hall which we had to walk back and forth to was probably the reason for the loose clothes. I don't think we were ever allowed to keep our shirt though, even during the waiting.

No instructions on the note sent home for school medical. Probally because it was strip to underpants for the exam anyway, this was done in an outer room prior to seeing the doctor. You were called in ready stripped.

I do not recall specific instructions. Around 6th or 7th grade I remember everyone had scoliosis exams. The girls were told to wear button down shirts that day. I remember looking across the gym where the girls were being examined and they all had their shirts on backwards, so they opened in the back. The boys took their shirts off.

My brother played football throughout junior and senior high school. For each football physical over those years, the team assembled in a large study hall next door to the library at the end of summer before school started. This was the late 1980s. Once assembled, each individual had to fill out a form and pass in whatever permission slip our parents had had to completed. The coach then gave the order "strip to your shorts" (we are talking 40+ players). At that time, at least in the town in the south where we grew up, "shorts" were always tight white Hanes briefs. Once down to their shorts, you were to sit down and keep your seat until your name was called. Once called, I recall him saying you walked next door (through a foyer or entry hallway) from the study hall to an office in the back of the library where the doctor was waiting. Every year, he commented on the experience of sitting for an extended period at a school desk in the study hall (the same study hall hundreds of students passed through during a regular school day) in his tighty-whiteys with every other football player at our small school. Kind of bonding experience, as it were. I didn't play football and, for whatever reason, the baseball physicals I had were never a group thing.

I think the only thing we got in Canada were our immunizations every few years, and a body fat test in one phys ed class.

Each year that I was in high school, they conducted group sports physicals, done on a Saturday morning. I've posted here about these physicals before, but I can't seem to find the post right now. I remember that they did send home a form ahead of time that my parents had to sign and it did have some basic instructions. The gist of the instructions were that I was to wear my full P.E. uniform to the physical. The instructions didn't explicitly list what that uniform was, because everyone already knew. It was shorts, T-shirt, jockstrap, shoes and socks -- the standard P.E. uniform that was required at the time.

My first year, I arrived wearing the required uniform as ordered. But what I didn't know until I arrived was that the entire exam would be done in a multi-station fashion in a group with all of the other boys. That news wasn't so bad, until I found out that they made us immediately remove everything except for our underwear. And of course, the only underwear that I, and every other boy was wearing, was a jockstrap. For the entire exam, we were lined up moving from station to station in the gym wearing only a jockstrap.

So I would say that the first year, I didn't know enough to really think much of the instructions that I was given. But in subsequent years, I knew what to expect and I knew the full significance of wearing my full P.E. uniform. I don't think my parents ever knew what was required once I was at the physical. They probably just figured that I'd be walking around in my P.E. uniform. So for those later years, yeah, I did think getting the instructions was kind of hot! To be honest, I think I began to look forward to those physicals.

In high school in the 80s we had sports physicals completely nude.. lined up, then one at a time into a small office for about a 30 second exam.. i don't think there was an actual testicle exam just a hernia exam. all sports lined up... so when I was a 5'6 120 lb freshman soccer player I had to stand behind a 6'2, 200+ lb senior football player. I doubt they still do it that... seemed a bit excessive

I remember the only real instruction was to wear a shirt that could be lifted up or opened quickly for the doctor. The sports teams had their physicals during the summer. Then the school would have physical week Freshmen and Juniors girls/ boys physicals would be done each day in the morning.

The school would give you a letter on what day to have see the doctor example (Freshmen boys: Tuesday 8:15 at the nurse's office). I went to large school so you would have 150 or 175 guys lined up outside the nurse's office. You would be let inside the office in varying numbers along as 10 were inside the nurse's office.

Once Inside the office there was 5 stations: check-in, hearing, eye test, blood pressure and something else. Then a line of 5 or 6 guys waiting to see the doctor the doctor was behind a divider. Once in line the nurse (old Army nurse) would tell you to "untuck you shirt, unbuckle your belt, unbutton your pants and pull the zipper down" while waiting to see the doctor. Then for the idiots she would say when the doctor tells you "drop you pants and underware all the way down, don't cough on the doctor and do not pee on the doctor" .

The doctor would say next and step behind the divider when he sat on a stool. He did not wear gloves so he would put his hands in a basin of very cold water between exams and his cold hands felt great when time came for gential exam. He looked in your ears, mouth, eyes, and the told you to pull up the shirt to listen to you heart an then turn around to look at your back and listen to your breathing. The doctor would tell you to turn around and drop your pants. The doctor would quickly check you penis, testicles and check for a hernia "turn and cough please". As you were pulling your pants up the next guy as coming into see the doctor.

We never had physicals at school. They sent a notice to my parents with a form that we brought to our own pediatrician. He would do the exam, fill out the form, and we'd turn it in at the office.

I have no recollection of a form, although there must have been one or the instructions/descriptions we can find online. A pass to the nurse's office showed up in study hall. I joined the other wrestlers free that slot. Bathroom for urine sample. Then standing, dressed, on a line. We walked into an office and each followed the doctor's instructions, lift and lower. We went in one by one.

Ours just gave the day and told us to bring a towel.

Once in the tutor room you completely striped, put the towel on and waited for the exam when you then went behind a screen and removed the towel

To JimmyJohnson below

What size school did you attend where the PE uniform was required for your group physicals? I attended large schools where sports physicals were done every August in the gym with two hundred guys at a time. We were told to strip to our underpants, which were almost all white briefs then, and get in a line for the physicals. Those lines were long and slow so I remember being in line for a long time unless I had arrived early enough to get near the front of the line. Like the guy below whose brother sat in his Hanes briefs with the other football players at desks in a school study hall, it was strange for us to be wearing almost nothing in the school gym where we had PE, played basketball, had school assemblies, wrestled, and seemed like a big public place everyday.

If our school had been smaller and the physicals were done in PE on a school day, instead of on a Saturday, then maybe it would have been "strip to your jock" for us, too. But it wouldn't have made any sense to tell us to show up at school on a Saturday in our PE uniforms, just to strip down to a jockstrap. I don't know how I would have felt about that. There were always some parents around for the sports physicals and it would have been awkward to be standing in line with my bare butt showing. If that had been the rule, my Dad would have not been bothered. He told me at the time about military physicals being all nude and that we were lucky to wear anything at all. His opinion was that there was no reason for boys to be modest around other boys.

What size school did you attend where the PE uniform was required for your group physicals?

From the sound of it, my school was probably slightly smaller than yours. I don't know if there were 200 guys at the physical at any one time, but because there was a window of time when you could arrive for your physical, not everyone was there at once.

I remember we got a letter from a school nurse in which letter there was the time and place for the examination. You should have been notified to your parents but I don't know how many did that. If the exam was intended to provide vaccinations they had to ask permission from the parents. However, in this letter was not mentioned anything about undressing standards or procedures.

We had a letter sent home to wear a swimsuit for the day of the exam. In high school we wore our normal school uniforms for the exam which we undressed on the top down to our bra, and left our pants on.

I don't recall anything at all about instructions although looking back my parents would definitely have received something. I do remember that the examination came as a complete surprise to me on the day although the fact that my mother was there at the time indicates she must have received and agreed something. Again I don't recall anything on the day being out of the ordinary until we started to get called out of the class.

In fact, it should not make any difference what kind of clothing is on the day of examination. It does not take long to undress to the extent necessary for examination.

We had to wear our gym uniform for examination

My sports physicals were done during the school day. A small group of us would be called out of class and we had to go to the little storage-like room off the gym. It was done in our gym uniform which was a T-shirt, sneakers, your underwear of choice and either shorts, sweatpants or athletic pants depending on the time of year. The physical was all fitness testing. There was no medical portion.

We were never given any pre instructions on what to wear on the day of our physicals. It never mattered as we were always ordered to strip down to our underwear before walking down to the gym anyways.

Nothing official but knew how to dress

Nothing mentioned on the consent forms sent out to parents (East Midlands, UK 1960s). They were informed of the day / date / time / place. They merely signed a) to give consent b) to indicate whether or not they would be present during the examination. Nothing specific re: clothing - but the form did mention that giving consent also meant that parents agreed to their children being 'undressed' in order to be examined properly.

In those days, the procedure at junior school was always the same. A whole class of boys were taken down to the school hall (usually in the afternoon ). Part of the hall was screened off & the school nurse & the doctor were behind them. The rest of the hall was a thoroughfare. Lots of people passing through. Ancillary staff / secretaries, school caretaker, delivery men, whole classes of children (usually heading outdoors ), children delivering messages etc (quite often they were girls).

I only mention this because, no matter who was around, we had to take off all of our clothes (apart from vest / pants), put them under wooden PE benches and then sit on the benches (in silence) and read - until our name was called out to go behind the screens to be examined. Some boys did not wear vests, so just sat there in their underpants. We returned and sat on the benches ( still in underwear) until everyone had been examined. Then everyone got dressed and we returned to class.

At grammar school, it was different. Examinations were individual. Boys were collected from whichever lesson they were in by a 6th for prefect and taken down to the examination room ( the D H's converted study). Once there, you sat on a chair in the corridor outside the room. Still wearing full school uniform. When whoever was in the room came out, you were called in. You then had to strip down to vest / pants in front of the school nurse.

When I was in high school many moons ago, the school didn’t give physicals for the general student body. They only offered sports physicals at the beginning of the school year for the fall and winter sports, and again in late winter/early spring for the spring sports. One day would be for the boys, and another day for the girls. I remember the boys had to report to the boy’s locker room, their names called over the school intercom in groups of 10 to 15 at a time. On the girls exam day, their names were also called over the intercom in groups of 10 to 15 to the girl’s locker room. I remember seeing some of the cheerleaders in my class having to get up and report for their physicals when their names were called. Some showed no emotion, others looked visibly embarrassed. It used to drive me nuts as my imagination ran wild, picturing the attractive female athletes getting examined.

One blonde cheerleader in particular, easily the prettiest girl in school, was called for her physical. She sat at the desk next to mine, and she was wearing a tight mini skirt that day, with a snug fitting short sleeve blouse, and ballet flats. (It was the beginning of the school year, still warm weather.) Her sexy, tanned legs showing, her legs crossed. She uncrossed them and stood up, gathered her books and stuff, and gave me a sheepish look as she turned to walk out with a few other girls. I remember how the curiosity killed me, wondering how much she had to undress, how thoroughly she was examined......

As far as the non athlete students, the school required physicals by the beginning of the freshman and junior years. But the school offered no physicals for that requirement, it had to be done by the student’s own doctor. The school would mail a physical exam form to the parents of the incoming freshman and junior students in early July.

No instructions in advance of our sports physicals other than to be at the school and be on time. It was understood that we would strip down to our underpants only for our sports physicals. There wasn't any reason to say that or to say that we would be undressed. There may have been some boys who didn't know in advance how getting a sports physical worked but they were told as soon as they checked in to go into the gym, strip to their underpants along the wall and get in line. There were coaches inside the gym who pointed us to where we were to undress along the walls. I knew what would happen my first time in 7th grade because my older brother told me that I would be stripped down to my jockeys with the other boys. Nervous the first time but happened all through junior high and high school so no big deal after the first two years. There were boys who were reluctant to get undressed in the gym in the beginning but our coaches would yell at them and get them moving. Which meant they stripped down really fast.

At our School Physicals all Students was in gym clothes and barefoot.