Is a Well-Visit Important?

Just as you handle maintenance on air conditioners and other items in your home ahead of the hot summer months, your body also benefits from preventive care. And what better time to schedule a preventive physical examination than now?

In a perfect world, feeling good would be enough and your good health would continue until a problem cropped up. However, many conditions and diseases progress substantially with few, if any, signs or symptoms. Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are two conditions that can establish themselves without making you feel any different.

So even when you’re feeling fine, it’s still a good idea to book a yearly exam.

There’s plenty of conflicting information about the importance of regular visits to the doctor when you’re feeling fine. Some reputable studies show that there are few significant benefits to routine preventive physical exams.

However, large studies don’t tell the complete story. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America’s leading health protection agency, still maintains that regular checkups are important! Their rationale is that early discovery is key to the successful treatment of many medical conditions.

Where you are in life also has an impact that can’t be reflected in clinical studies.

Regular visits also establish a relationship and a familiarity. They may notice changes in you that aren’t on your radar. It’s easy to dismiss some symptoms as simply due to getting older or stress at work, when in fact they’re medical conditions affecting you.

What should you expect at a preventive physical exam?

Virtually every doctor’s visit features some level of physical examination. There’s no absolute routine or sequence of tests. Much depends on your communication with your doctor as well as his or her observations of you.

Your vital signs and blood pressure are often the first steps. The only way to recognize hypertension in its early stages is with cuff testing. Changes in your appearance or weight could also tip off your examiner that follow-up is necessary, and discussions about your medical history since your last visit may expand on this.

The stethoscope, abdominal taps, tongue depression as you say, “ah,” and other routine elements of a physical typically proceed with nothing urgent discovered, particularly when you’re feeling well, but a discovery here could be a sign that additional tests are needed. Such tests could include blood and urine analysis to probe more deeply, but it’s not unusual to skip chemical tests when you’re in good health.

Any immunizations you require may be updated during your annual physical. It’s also your chance to ask about your concerns, such as future health risks and what you can do to minimize them. A preventive physical exam is interactive, so an open and honest dialogue is to your benefit.

Summer is the perfect time to get back into the habit of an annual physical. Doctors are usually more available and it’s a good opportunity for you to consider “new year, new you” during the summer months!