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While many illnesses present obvious signs and symptoms that prompt you to visit a primary care provider for diagnosis and treatment, some do not show any signs until it’s too late. The only way to detect these conditions at their early stages, before the symptoms appear, is through physical evaluation and diagnostic testing.

Annual physical exams help to facilitate the early detection of any health issues, reduce your risk of serious illness, and optimize your health for as long as possible. Children are also required to get physical exams when getting ready for school, camp, or sports. It is the first step in ensuring a healthy start for any activity.

Annual physical exams usually help with the early detection of many different illnesses and disorders, including:

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Malignant tumors
• Thyroid disease
• Heart disease

Considering that 62% of all organized sports injuries occur during practice, especially for soccer, football, and basketball, it is important that children get their physical exam before the start of every academic year. In fact, sports physicals are mandatory in schools, and help to raise awareness of potential problems that may disturb your child’s ability to participate in extracurricular activities.

What to expect at your physical appointment

During your physical examination, we will:

• Take or update your personal information – phone number, address, insurance, etc.
• Review your medical history – family medical history; past diagnoses, medications, and surgeries; and any current symptoms
• Physically examine your eyes, nose, ears, mouth, skin, chest, abdomen, genitals, and extremities
• Perform preventive, diagnostic tests as required – may include blood work, bone density scan, a mammogram, colonoscopy, Pap smear, and other tests
• Eye exam – to check for proper vision and establish the need for prescription lenses or an adjustment to the current prescription
• Fitness assessment – to examine the ear, nose, throat, abdomen, respiratory, and cardiovascular system for any problems
• Joints and flexibility check – to test the student’s flexibility, joints, posture, and strength, while identifying any areas that are prone to injury. The results can also be used to recommend exercises and activities to build a healthier and stronger body.
• Provide patient education and counseling based on your risk factors or a proposed treatment plan

Keep in mind that the diagnostic tests performed vary from individual to individual based on the information obtained from the medical history review and/or physical examination, and the age or gender of the patient. In addition, patients may also request specific tests for their peace of mind. Visit your family doctor today for a physical exam to know your health status.

Some people make the mistake of assuming that family doctors can only handle simple medical concerns, like vaccinations, ear, nose and throat infections, school annual physicals, and the likes. Fortunately, these are just some of the common benefits of having a family doctor who knows your entire family’s health needs. More importantly, you can leverage your long-standing relationship to consult on 80-90% of all your health concerns.

Family doctors work with patients throughout their lifetime, which allows them to build relationships with families. General practitioners, on the other hand, build relationships with specialists so they can refer patients for additional treatment when necessary. For your family’s continued good health, you should consider working with a family doctor who emphasizes the use of preventive medicine by you and your loved ones to improve your overall health and wellbeing.

Family doctors do not specialize in any particular medical field. Instead, they have a vast amount of medical knowledge that allows them to care for patients with hundreds of different problems. This makes them a great resource to also educate their patients on disease prevention and treatment of illnesses, and create treatment plans to help manage chronic medical conditions.

Family physicians can intervene in all major medical areas, including:

• Child care
• Preventive medicine
• Internal medicine
• Surgery
• Psychiatry
• Dermatology
• Pediatrics
• Gynecology
• Orthopedics
• Sports medicine

This means that your family doctor can address most, if not all, of the common medical/health concerns that can affect your loved ones. In the 10 to 20% of cases that require specialized attention, your family doctor will guide you to the proper sub-specialist and help coordinate the process.

Final Note

With the personal relationships that family doctors develop with families, they are able to focus on treating and improving the general health and wellbeing of your entire family, as opposed to just fighting the diseases and other problems as they arise. By providing compassionate and personalized care and leveraging the latest technological advances and new treatment approaches, family doctors can consistently provide all people, from expectant mothers and infants to kids and teens to adults and seniors, with the highest quality of care.