Here’s What We Screen for During Your Child’s Physical

Annual physicals are the first line of defense against chronic diseases in children and adults. At Primary Care Walk-In Medical Clinic, we offer physical exams for the whole family to ensure everyone is in good health.

You schedule routine physicals for your children once a year, even if they’re feeling fine. Younger children typically need more frequent physicals until they reach school age.

Your child may also need a separate physical for school, sports, and other organized activities to ensure they are healthy enough to participate. These physicals can identify underlying health issues that can interfere with their safe participation.

Conditions we screen for during a physical

Every physical starts with a review of your child’s medical history, their family history, and any changes they’ve experienced in their health since their last exam.

Our primary care team also spends time physically evaluating your child’s body, noting important information like:

• Height
• Weight
• Heart rate
• Lung function
• Blood pressure
• Body temperature

Our physicians will assess your child’s muscle strength and joint flexibility. They also check their spinal alignment to identify abnormal curvatures common with scoliosis.

Other screenings in children

There are a variety of screenings available at Primary Care Walk-In Medical Clinic. The screenings your child needs depend on their age and their family medical history.

The team performs screenings for mental health issues like depression and anxiety. They can also screen for developmental issues like autism, and for behavioral issues.

If there’s a history of diabetes, asthma, or chronic diseases in your family, we may also request blood work during a physical. When your child is already managing a disease with medications, they may need routine blood work or other lab tests to evaluate how well treatment is working.

In older adolescents and teenagers, our providers can also screen for alcohol and drug abuse and discuss sexual health concerns.

Benefits of physical exams for children

Many of the chronic diseases that affect children don’t cause symptoms until the condition progresses. Routine physicals help our team identify potential underlying health issues before your kids even have symptoms.

By confirming health issues in their earliest stage, our physicians can start your children on treatment right away when necessary. Treatment is usually most effective when a disease is caught early.

Other benefits of routine physicals for children include:

Vaccine updates

Another advantage of routine physicals for kids is their access to vaccinations. Vaccines protect your children from contagious and potential life-threatening diseases. Many work by exposing your child’s immune system to dead particles of a virus, so the body can recognize it and build up its immunity against it.

At your child’s physical exam, we can ensure your child is up to date on vaccines to protect against polio, mumps, measles, and other diseases. We also offer the season flu shot to reduce risk factors for serious complications the flu can cause.

General health monitoring

Routine physicals give our team the opportunity to track changes in your child’s physical, mental, and behavioral health from one year to the next.

Routine exams ensure your kids are enjoying a high quality of life. Even if they need more frequent medical attention because of underlying conditions, physicals are still important for protecting your child’s existing and long-term health.

Parental concerns

Your child’s annual physical is a great time for you as a parent to get the answers to questions you have about their health. At each physical, you have the opportunity to bring up any changes you notice in your child’s health and behaviors, so our team can address them.

To schedule a physical exam for your children, call the Primary Care Walk-In Medical Clinic office nearest you today or book an appointment online. You can also visit the clinic as a walk-in.