Checkup finds 48-year-old Obama ‘fit for duty,’ recommends more ’smoking cessation efforts’
By APSunday, February 28, 2010
Medical checkup: 48-year-old Obama ‘fit for duty’
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s doctor says the commander in chief’s first medical checkup since he took office finds the 48-year-old is in “excellent health” and is “fit for duty.”
The physician, Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, says he saw nothing in his examination of the president on Sunday that would prevent Obama from fulfilling his term as president.
He recommends that Obama “continue smoking cessation efforts” and modify his exercise regimen to strengthen his leg muscles to overcome occasional pain from chronic tendinitis in his left leg.
Obama uses a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory for the tendinitis and “nicotine replacement therapy” — believed to be nicotine gum — in his bid to quit smoking.
The details are in a report the White House released after the checkup.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama has finished his first medical checkup as president and knows when he’s supposed to go see the doctor again — when he’s 50.
The 48-year-old commander in chief had a physical examination on Sunday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. His last one was in January 2007, when he was an Illinois senator.
Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who heads the White House medical unit, conducted the exam. It lasted about 90 minutes. The White House is expected to release results later Sunday.
The president was told to come back in August 2011 — after he hits the half-century mark — for his next checkup.
Obama also met with 12 members of the military who were receiving treatment at the medical center for injuries they suffered while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
