--- title: Biden's Annual Physical: What to Know description: Biden's physician gave him a clean bill of health, but noted he continues to have stiffness in his walk, arthritis in his back and neuropathy in his feet canonical: https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/ author: Brian Bennett article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-02-16T23:30:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:52.503Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden's Physical: 'Healthy,' But 'Gait Remains Stiff' og:description: Biden got a clean bill of health, but he has a stiffness in his walk, arthritis in his back and neuropathy in his feet. og:url: https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae15c239ec632133/698a3a7209208f038c41a19c/GettyImages-1243573347.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-HEALTH-BIDEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden's Physical: 'Healthy,' But 'Gait Remains Stiff' twitter:description: Biden got a clean bill of health, but he has a stiffness in his walk, arthritis in his back and neuropathy in his feet. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae15c239ec632133/698a3a7209208f038c41a19c/GettyImages-1243573347.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden's Physical Says He's 'Healthy' and 'Vigorous,' But 'Gait Remains Stiff' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Biden Meets With King Charles to Discuss Climate Change [Watch (HLS stream): Biden Meets With King Charles to Discuss Climate Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dnFiVxTR.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2023-07-10. US President Joe Biden and King Charles III met in Windsor Castle for climate talks with officials and the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on Monday._  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Feb 16, 2023 11:30 PM UTC  President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, Sept. 28, 2022. President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, Sept. 28, 2022.Oliver Contreras—AFP via Getty Images  by [Brian Bennett](https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/)  ## Brian Bennett Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME. Feb 16, 2023 11:30 PM UTC President Biden, who turned 80 in November, was examined by doctors at Walter Reed National Medical Center in Maryland on Thursday. It was his first check up in over a year. Biden, the oldest President in US history, is widely expected to announce in the coming months that he is running for re-election. ## What were the results? His physician gave him a clean bill of health, but noted Biden continues to have stiffness in his walk from a combination of arthritis in his back, neuropathy in his feet and the long-term effects of breaking his foot in November 2020 while playing with his former dog Major. Doctors conducted a routine removal of a lesion from his chest that will be checked for skin cancer, according to a six-page summary of his examination. “President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” wrote Dr. Kevin O’Connor, a doctor of osteopathic medicine and physician to the president. --- ### More from TIME --- The President is six feet tall and weighs 178 pounds, about six pounds lighter than when he was weighed at his previous physical in November 2021\. The president takes medication to manage “non-valvular atrial fibrillation” in his heart and takes a statin to moderate his cholesterol levels. A neurologic exam had no findings consistent with stroke or Parkinsons, or other neurological disorders. ## Biden’s “gait remains stiff” Biden has “significant spinal arthritis” and the impact of a broken foot and neuropathy in his feet that changed how he walks, Dr. O’Connor noted. “The President’s gait remains stiff, but has not worsened since last year.” Biden’s doctor recommended physical therapy and exercise. ## Biden’s age is already a campaign issue Questions about Biden’s age have dogged him since he became the oldest president in U.S. history when he was inaugurated at 78 in January 2021\. Before Biden, Ronald Reagan previously held the record for the oldest serving president, finishing out his last day in office at the age of 77. The issue won’t be going away as the 2024 Presidential race kicks off. Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley took a dig at the ages of Biden and her GOP rival Donald Trump, who is 76, when she announced her candidacy on Wednesday. At her campaign[ launch](https://time.com/6255878/nikki-haley-2024-announcement/) in Charleston, South Carolina, Haley called for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.” “America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” Haley said. The White House pushed back Thursday on the notion that Biden was past his prime. “We’ve heard these types of attacks or remarks before. And, you know, if you go back to 2020, they said the President couldn’t do it in 2020 and attacked him there, and he beat them,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a press briefing. “Maybe they’re forgetting the wins that this President has had over the last couple of years,” Jean-Pierre added, “but I’m happy to remind them at any time.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/"},"headline":"Biden's Physical Says He's 'Healthy' and 'Vigorous,' But 'Gait Remains Stiff'","datePublished":"2023-02-16T23:30:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:52.503Z","description":"Biden's physician gave him a clean bill of health, but noted he continues to have stiffness in his walk, arthritis in his back and neuropathy in his feet.","url":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/","keywords":["Joe Biden","White House","Longevity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae15c239ec632133/698a3a7209208f038c41a19c/GettyImages-1243573347.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Brian Bennett","jobTitle":"Bennett is the senior White House correspondent at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/brian-bennett/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltae15c239ec632133/698a3a7209208f038c41a19c/GettyImages-1243573347.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-BIDEN","caption":"US-POLITICS-HEALTH-BIDEN","creditText":"Oliver Contreras—AFP via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/joe-biden/","name":"Joe Biden"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/","name":"Biden's Physical Says He's 'Healthy' and 'Vigorous,' But 'Gait Remains Stiff'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Biden Meets With King Charles to Discuss Climate Change","description":"US President Joe Biden and King Charles III met in Windsor Castle for climate talks with officials and the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on Monday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dnFiVxTR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-07-10T15:52:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dnFiVxTR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/","duration":"PT2M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6256442/bidens-physical-healthy-gait-age/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```