Primary care
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As a child matures so does the child's gait pattern. Gait changes in pediatric patients will be expected and sequential as developmental milestones. ⋯ There are times when changes in gait are due to urgent orthopedic or medical conditions, and those should not be overlooked. A good understanding of pediatric gait development and a basic understanding of gait assessment are critical for the primary care physician who cares for children.
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This article reviews common issues in pediatric dental health, including normal development, developmental issues, infections, trauma, and preventative care.
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This article reviews injuries encountered in active pediatric patients and discusses common presentations, diagnostic criteria, treatment modalities, and prevention. An emphasis is placed on overuse injuries, including a review of physeal and apophyseal injuries encountered in skeletally immature, active patients as well as back disorders often encountered in adolescents. This article is not meant to be comprehensive, but it offers directions for management of these patients in the outpatient primary care setting.
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This article describes the current understanding of the identification, classification, and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as it relates to the practice of primary care providers. In addition, the most updated information regarding risk factors, as well as effective treatment strategies are provided. Although primary care providers are not typically the experts in ASD treatment, they constitute a critical component of the care team responsible for early identification and intervention initiation for patients with ASD.
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There is arguably no group of conditions more common and expansive in children than gastrointestinal disorders. Moreover, successful recognition, diagnosis, and management of these ailments is particularly challenging provided the breadth of potential dysfunction, as well as a general paucity of specific physical examination findings to pinpoint diagnoses. Elucidation of these conditions is made further challenging by frequent difficulty of pediatric patients to provide a detailed articulation of their symptoms. Nonetheless, a thorough history can aid in distinguishing these various diagnoses, which can be further classified into 3 categories: infectious, inflammatory, and immunologic pathology; motility disorders; and functional gastrointestinal disorders.