USA Today reports that although most student athletes are “required to get physical exams to compete on school sports teams,” the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend annual checkups for ALL youth “up to age 21.”“Sometimes parents think their child is healthy and they don’t really need to come in,” says pediatrician Wendy Sue Swanson of Seattle Children’s Hospital and the Everett Clinic. “But we do so much preventive work during the exam, it really is important to follow through every year.”
Dr. Swanson says, “good doctors will ask if teens are making good choices.” According to the CDC, automobile “accidents, homicides and suicides are the leading causes” of adolescent mortalities.
Also, there are new vaccines available.
So if you child has not had a preventive medicine checkup in the last year, now’s the time to schedule one.