Medical Examinations for other than school when growing up

Other than school medicals when growing up, did anyone have to undergo any medicals for other reasons such as scouts, going on trips or to camps etc?

I had to get them for the sports I played, both in and out of school. I also had to get one for a summer camp I went to one year.

Exams before summer camp and another for volleyball.

I had a complete physical exam from age 11 onward.yearly. I participated in athletics (Cross Country, Diving and Lacrosse) but I suffer from asthma. My annual exam (even to this day) was scheduled shortly after the school year was dismissed so I could be cleared for athletics the next school year.

I had exams for development follow-up every 6 mths from 14 onwards until I was 18.

After I turned 11, all of my physicals were in late November, well after school started. They always happened near my birthday. For about three years we had to drive an hour to my pediatrician (I've posted about him elsewhere).

In addition to the ones I always had every year for school sports, my parents also always took us for physicals at private doctors offices. Also, I had to have one before camp in the summer. Then the occasional odds and ends one might pop up here and there.

For sure attending Scout camp required a physical of one would receive one from the camp doc. Participation in high school and college sports required exams. All of these meant examination for a hernia and checking of heart and bp.

one might pop up here and there.

Oh, I'm sure it did LOL.

Sorry, couldn't resist 😆.

After I turned 11, all of my physicals were in late November, well after school started. They always happened near my birthday. For about three years we had to drive an hour to my pediatrician (I've posted about him elsewhere).

That is cool. One of the textbooks that I have mentions something about pediatricians should recommend two best times for parents to schedule their kids' physicals. One is late summer before the school year starts, and the other is on or very near the kid's birthday.

That is cool. One of the textbooks that I have mentions something about pediatricians should recommend two best times for parents to schedule their kids' physicals. One is late summer before the school year starts, and the other is on or very near the kid's birthday.

Would love to see a scan of that if you can share it @JakeNewYork . My pediatrician and mom clearly believed in that, since my physicals were always on my birthday if that wasn't a weekend or holiday.

This is embarrassing, but I honestly thought that "birthday suit" meant naked due to physicals being on one's birthday, because that's what the pediatrician always said -- "Now let's take a look at you in your birthday suit" just before he pulled my undies down.

It wasn't until my 15-year-old exam, two days after my birthday, since my birthday had been on a Saturday, that I learned the real meaning of the phrase. The doctor finished the usual exam with me lying on the table, and he told me to hop down and stand in front of him on his rolling stool. As usual, he said the birthday suit thing, and I protested, "But it's not my birthday anymore." He went ahead and pulled my undies down, but he and my mom both had a good laugh.

I worked at a summer camp in high school and had to have one, usually in late May.

@JakeNewYork In my case, they were one and the same. I was born in mid-August. My school did not to physicals, so the annual exam/vaccine updates, etc. were always done by my private pediatrician.

I didn't play sports in high school or little league or such. My older brothers did. The oldest is 12 years my senior and the one right before me was 6 years older) and my parents were still getting hit up to "volunteer" for snack concessions, etc. so I wasn't permitted to participate. There than the annual exam, I was examined by an allergist at about age 10. I suddenly broke out in hives, eyes swelling, etc. after dad had mowed the lawn and I was on the ground floor with the window open. (It was a very hot day and night, so I slept in the den instead of my upstairs room) We called my doctor, who sent us directly to an allergist. Since he had never seen me before, he did a full physical as well as the scratch test and other things specific to allergies. (Don't know if that counts, but there it is.)

Nothing of the kind, but I did not enroll in sports outside of school. (By the way, since my childhood, the requirement to undergo a yearly physical for extracurricular sports has been removed.)

In Germany we have a youth exams. Which take place untile 16 I think. It's voluntarily but most of the kids in my age were at all of them. They are not done by your school, you have to go to your child doctor.

We always had an exam before going to a summer camp. Sometimes even swabs were required. And then we had an exam in the camp, on the first day and another one closer to the last day. Those who gained more weight during that month were awarded prises. Yes, at that time we didn’t see obese kids and putting on more weight was considered as very good and healthy.

If I went to the doctors when I was ill, more often than not I would get a detailed examination. They would ask my mother or father to strip me down to my underpants in front of them and my big brother.

I would have my height and weight measured before getting on the table. They would check my eyes, ears and nose, take my temperature orally, listen to my heart, breathing and belly, do reflex tests etc. I can also remember them feeling inside my bellybutton checking for an umbilical hernia.

The only thing they didn't do was check my genitals which only ever happened at school exams.

In Hong Kong there is a centre where all school children will get checked. For female teenagers between 11-18 years old, gentalia and breast development are checked on alternate years. Parents can accompany the student into the exam room.

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Every year to go to scout camp for a week in the summer, ages 12 to 17.

Every year to be in high school gymnastics, ages 14 to 17.

I had an exam for scuba diving lessons when I was 16.

Military exams, aviation medical exams....

I had a most embarrassing examine because of bed wetting.

I had a most embarrassing examine because of bed wetting.

How wax it done?

Other school medical exams and visits to the doctor when ill, the first full medical exam was a pre-employment exam at 19.

Physical exams were required for sports participation. Medical paperwork was required for summer camps but I believe that was all self reported by the parent.

Yes, I had various medical examinations for reasons other than school when I was growing up. The one that I had at age 15 was a real doozy. It was the first complete physical exam I had after reaching puberty, and I felt totally humiliated by the experience. But perhaps ironically it fed my medfet. I wrote a blog account of the experience on Zity, which you can read at this link:

https://en.zity.biz/index.php?mx=forum;ox=display;msg=1199088

The one that I had at age 15 was a real doozy. It was the first complete physical exam I had after reaching puberty,

@bobbee , your story is touching. I can imagine a shy and shocked 15 yo boy, underpants down to floor.

@Bobbee Did the doctor ask any embarrassing questions then too

To get to go to summer camp I had to have a complete physical conducted. I was 9 or 10 at the time, and it was an experience that really stuck with me. That physical, done by a middle aged women doctor, really embarrassed me; but I found myself thinking about it a lot after it was finished. I remember being really nervous from the start when the nurse called me back from the waiting area and took me to an exam room where she instructed me to undress to my underwear; which I apprehensively but dutifully did as a conscientious kid who respected adult authority. She was in the room as I undressed and once down to only my briefs she said to follow her. My anxiety got worse as I followed her out of the room and down the hall in just my underpants to where a scale was located. "Go ahead and hop on" she said. I did and stood there as she moved the scale weights to balance them, all the while hoping nobody would come through the corridor and see me in only underpants. After she was satisfied reading my weight, she said "turn around and let's get your height." I did as she pulled the measuring device straight up and out of the scale that I stood upon. "Stand straight, arms at your sides." She lowered the bar on the measuring device down until it touched my head then lifted it back up and said I could step down. As I did, she handed me a plastic cup and motioned me to a nearby door, a bathroom, and told me she needed a urine specimen. At least that part I could do alone.

Once finished we headed back to the exam room. "Hop up on the table, lets get your vitals." I did and she proceeded to take my temperature, put the blood pressure cuff on my arm, then listened to my heart with a stethoscope. It must have been beating fast because as she was listening I remember her saying "you don't need to be nervous."

After that she said she would get the doctor and would be right back. She was back several minutes later and just smiled at me as she entered the room, then went to the counter where her clipboard was and started writing on it. A moment later, a knock and in walks another lady who came over to me, introduced herself and shook my hand. I remember her asking me some questions, with my answers being brief, I think pretty much the yes or no type. Then she took her stethoscope off her neck and listened to me front and back, occasionally instructing me to breathe deep. Next I remember her hands going under my jaw and feeling down my neck. "You can go ahead and lay down on the table now" she said, so I scooted up the crinkly paper cover and reclined myself back. I guess my hands were crossed over my midsection because she told me to put them down so she could check my stomach. Her hands went down on me feeling around various places and continued to move lower on my body until they reached the band of my underwear. She pulled up on it a little, slid her hands under, then continued feeling the area still hidden by my underpants. I watched all this happening, but don't think I ever said a thing. I just wanted it to be over!

Once that part was done, she told me to hop off the table as she retrieved a stool to sit on. I remember adjusting the band of my underwear back up as they had been pushed lower when she was palpating beneath them; but for the next part that was about to happen, there wasn't a point. Now I stood there as the doctor wheeled the stool closer. I remember looking over at the nurse who was just watching at that point. She still had the clipboard but wasn't writing anymore. "I'm going to check your testicles, okay?" the doctor said. I must have got wide-eyed hearing that, but just nodded my head. With that her hands went to my sides, gripped my underpants and slid them down to my knees. I couldn't look down as I felt her hand come up and touch me down there. I just kind of looked at the wall behind the doctor then glanced over at the nurse who was still just standing there and watching. She saw my glance and offered a reassuring smile. The doctor felt around for what seemed like a long time, but probably wasn't, affording me this super strange feeling of so much exposure. "Everything looks good, we're almost done. Go ahead and turn around so I can check your back" she told me. At that, I immediately reached down to pull my underwear back up, but as I was doing that I felt a hand on my shoulder and the doctor saying "you can leave those down." Oh no, it didn't feel like it was almost over to me now, as I turned exposing my backside to the doctor and nurse, underwear at my knees. I remember still feeling compelled to cover my front with my hands, but didn't, thinking I would be chastised for doing so. I kept my hands by my side as I felt the doctor's hands touching areas on my back.

Then came the instructions, "put your feet closer together and bend over. Try to touch your toes." It just kept getting worse, but I knew I had no choice. As soon as I moved my feet closer, the underwear at my knees immediately dropped to my feet rendering me essentially naked, as I bent forward as told. I just stared at the tile floor, but could feel the eyes of the doctor and nurse all over me. There was a little more touching on my back while in that position, then what I think was the doctor looking at my butt. I finally heard her say, "Alright, all done." I grabbed the underpants from around my feet and pulled them up with me as fast as I could. I turned back to the doctor, who told me some stuff that I don't recall, as well as to the nurse. Then she stood up from the stool she had been sitting on, shook my hand again and left.

The nurse was again writing on the clipboard, but looked up at me, said that I did great and can go ahead and get dressed. That was the permission I had been waiting for, and got my clothes back on quickly, then was escorted by her back to the waiting room.

I didn't mean to write so much, and some of the details may not be exact, as it happened years ago; but like I said, as anxiety inducing as the exam was to me then, I relived it in my mind many times following the experience.

@Examstripsearch No, I don't remember being asked any embarrassing questions. I just remember the whole experience being embarrassing and making me feel terribly vulnerable.