Children's Health Children's Health Basics

The Back-to-School Physical: Why Does it Matter?

Summary & Participants

If you have a child, you've doubtless taken him or her to the doctor for a back-to-school physical; most schools require one every few years, if not every year. You may take it for granted, but why is it so important? What does a physical have to do with going back to school? What should a good physical include? What questions should the doctor be asking your child? Join our panel of experts as they discuss the back-to-school physical for children of all ages.

Medically Reviewed On: July 10, 2008

Webcast Transcript

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: Hi, and welcome to our webcast. I'm Dr. David Marks. One of the rites of passage of being a parent is taking your kids to their annual physical. Often we do that at back to school time. But it could be done at any time. The question is: Is it important to do it every year?

Joining me to answer that question, and to talk about why it's important, are two guests. Dr. Dan Neuspiel, he's Associate Chairman of pediatrics at Beth Israel Medical Center. Welcome.

And Dr. Herschel Lessin. He's a pediatrician at the Children's Medical Group in Poughkeepsie, New York. Thanks for being here.

We do take our kids every single year for a physical, but is that redundant or necessary?

HERSCHEL LESSIN, MD: I think it is necessary, for a variety of reasons. I think doing an annual physical is not just laying the stethoscope on the chest. It ought to be a lot more. If it's just that, it probably isn't necessary every year. But it should be a lot more than that. There should be a lot of things spoken about. Anticipatory guidance and information about recent medical things you hear on the news or on webcasts. There's lots of things to talk about, and I think for all those reasons, not just listening to the chest, it is important to do every year.

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: You're talking about more psycho social factors, in addition to the medical.

DANIEL NEUSPIEL, MD: Not just psycho social. I would say safety is one really important area, because children suffer more from injuries than from all medical illnesses throughout the school-age period. And injury protection is something we really focus on as one important item in the annual visit. Things like protection, head protection and other body protection during things like bicycle riding, skateboarding, skating, and sports activities that kids are in.

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: What other issues do you talk about? Depends on the age, I would imagine.

HERSCHEL LESSIN, MD: It does depend on the age. One thing I tell all my parents is, I think they should talk to their kids about sex and drugs and alcohol. And they find that easy, except for the sex part. But I need to keep bothering them every year to talk about that. In teenagers, there's substance abuse. There's risk-taking behavior.

With younger kids, there's how much television should they watch, how much computer should they watch? Then there's scares like whatever health scare you have in your area, be it Lyme disease or West Nile virus in the Northeast, or hepatitis-A in the Southwest. There are many things that people worry about that they hear about, that they need answers for. And these can also be covered in this annual visit.

DAVID R. MARKS, MD: Do parents often come to you with questions, and kind of initiate the conversation on these issues?

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