House Call: Sports exams to social anxiety – prep now for a healthier school year

Seems like summer just started, but anew school yearb is around the corner. Back-to-school prep isn’t just about backpacks and new shoes: Wellness preparation supports your child’s physical and mental wellness in school, too. August is when sports participation physical examinations are happening to help your child participate in sports and activities as safely as possible. It’s also a good time for wellness exams, routine vaccinations and focusing on safety and well-being before the school year starts.

Schedule sports exams and wellness checks

Many districts and schools require participation physical examinations, also known as a “sports check” before an activity or sports season starts. A sports physical will include a physical exam, a review of medical history and screening for conditions that may put your child at higher risk for injury or other health issues from physical activity. This check can provide important information to parents and coaches about an athlete’s health, and if any issues or conditions are found, a plan may be able to be put in place to participate safely.

Even if your student isn’t participating in sports, a regular wellness exam before school can address many concerns and get your child up to date on routine vaccinations. If you plan ahead, your doctor may be able to do both in the same visit.

Get up to date on vaccinations

Missed or skipped vaccinations can leave your child unprotected from preventable diseases. The schedule for your child’s vaccines will depend on their age and other factors, so check in with your provider and bring them any questions you might have.

Teens often need to get up to date with a tetanus booster, or Tdap, which also covers diphtheria and pertussis or whooping cough. While we hope for no summer barefoot accidents, a tetanus booster helps protect kids if there is one.

The HPV vaccine is recommended for boys and girls between the age of 9 to 12. This is a vaccine that prevents cancer related to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is so common that at some point almost every person will get HPV if they are unvaccinated. Most people never know they have it and can fight it off, but sometimes it lingers and can cause cancer. The best time to get the safe and effective HPV vaccine is before being exposed to HPV, so it’s recommended to get vaccinated as a preteen.

As much as we’re working through returning to a more normal routine, COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, and it still poses a threat of severe illness or death. Everyone who is already vaccinated aged 5 and older is eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot. If you have children aged 6 months to 5 years , there is also a vaccine available for them if they haven’t received it already.

Even if your child already had COVID, it’s important that they get vaccinated or boosted. Experts don’t know how long someone is protected from getting sick again after recovering, particularly with some of the newer variants we’re seeing. As kids return to school, COVID-19 vaccines do a good job keeping them and other loved ones from severe illness and death.

For any unvaccinated adults 18 or older, there is now another COVID-19 vaccine option recommended by the CDC that uses the same vaccine technology that has been used for decades to protect people from hepatitis, shingles and other viral infections. Novavax is a protein-based vaccine generating an immune response using different technology from the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. Check with your provider about availability.

You’ll also want to start thinking about flu shots for the whole family in September and October.

If there are vaccines for which you know your child is due, you can often arrange to get them and get records updated at a provider’s office without an appointment with a clinician.

Whole health and mental health

Your child’s mental health is just as important as physical health. Before school starts is a good time to have a conversation with your child about how they feel about going back to school.

Sit down and talk with your kids about if they are excited or nervous or have fears or anxieties with the start of school. The beginning of the school year can bring up many concerns for children from excited jitters to worry about stepping up to a new school or a new grade level. For some kids this nervousness might be related to bullying or social anxiety.

Some kids may have worries or questions about safety at school. You can talk to them, at an age-appropriate level, about the safety measures put into place by school districts and just listen and talk through their fears and concerns. Remind kids that if they know someone else who is struggling or made threatening statements, they should say something to a trusted adult.

These conversations can be difficult, but it’s sometimes easier for kids to talk about them when they are not in the classroom every day.

If your child is having extra fears, anxiety or you have questions or want to make sure they get the mental health support they need, your school counselor can be an immediate contact who can connect your family with a social worker, resources and counseling if needed. You can also talk with your provider about mental health needs.

Seat belts, helmets and substance abuse

Conversations about setting boundaries can cover many healthier and safer choices, from helmets and wearing a seat belt to thinking twice about getting into a car with someone you don’t think is a safe driver.

It depends on the age of your child, but the beginning of the school year is a good opportunity to talk to your child about substance abuse. Although they aren’t supposed to be, cigarettes, vapes and cannabis can be accessible to kids and research shows that kids are more able to resist peer pressure and make healthier choices if they’ve talked about it ahead of time. Studies indicate that cannabis may be especially harmful in teenage years and impact cognitive development, achievement and grades for teenagers.

Wellness checks, vaccinations and sports exams are all good preventative medicine. So are the conversations you have about overall well-being and making safer choices. A little prep for a healthier school year goes a long way, so enjoy the rest of your summer and plan ahead for a safe and healthy school year!

Dr. Jeff Markin is a family medicine physician practicing at Kaiser Permanente’s Veradale Medical Center.