Seeing your provider might be the last thing on your mind when you’re feeling healthy, but did you know it’s often the best time to come in for a check-up? Don’t buy it? Here’s a few reasons to schedule your physical today!
#1 Physicals screen for medical issues and check your risk for future health problems.
During your physical, we will screen you for many items. Some of these items are related to chronic conditions, like:
- Body Mass Index (BMI) to identify risks associated with obesity.
- Blood pressure to identify risks with the cardiovascular system.
- Hemoglobin A1c to measure the amount of sugar in your blood for detection of diabetes.
- Oxygen saturation, spirometry, and respirations to check how well your lungs are working.
- Basic eye and hearing assessments.
- Cognitive function and response to measure your memory.
- Other blood work, lab, and diagnostic screenings to check for a variety of common issues.
Measuring all these items annually will help us to know how your health improves or worsens over time to make sure you are receiving the treatment you need to maintain or improve your health status.
We also screen for several different types of cancer. Your annual physical may include the following screenings to check for cancer:
- A skin exam.
- A breast exam or a referral for a mammogram.
- A pap smear to check for cervical cancer.
- A testicular exam.
- A referral for a colonoscopy.
We all know that the “Big C” can be scary, but research has found that early detection, diagnosis, and treatment greatly improves your odds of survival.
#2 Physicals help you achieve or maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Whether you’re already eating right and exercise on the reg or you’re thinking about getting started, your provider has many tools and recommendations to make living that healthy lifestyle easier. We have many resources to make quitting smoking easier, we offer nutritional counseling, and we even have exercise physiologists (sort of like a personal trainer) located in our offices to help you hurdle plateaus or take the first step. Even if you’re not ready to make a change yet, it’s an opportunity for us to talk to you about the positive impact it could make on your health to get you thinking about it.
#3 You’ll have the opportunity to update your vaccines.
Vaccines aren’t just for kids! Adults need an occasional booster for immunizations like tetanus. There’s also different vaccines that are recommended based on your age, like for flu, shingles, or pneumococcal infections (pneumonia and meningitis).
At EPIC Health, your provider is interested in you as a whole person and is qualified to examine, evaluate, diagnose, and treat you from head to toe (and everything in between). No matter how healthy you feel: don’t underestimate the importance of an annual physical. If it’s been a while since you’ve had one, call us at (248)-336-4000 to schedule or click on the link below to request an appointment that works for you!
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