Annual Physicals

What are annual physicals?

Annual physicals are medical examinations you have every year to look for signs of ill health. At the offices of Dawei Zheng, MD, ABFM, your provider asks about your general health and anything causing problems, such as sleeping difficulties or changes in bowel habits.

Next, they perform a physical exam, checking vital signs including your:

• Blood pressure
• Temperature
• Heart rate 
• Respiration (breathing) rate
• Blood oxygen levels
• Heart and lung sounds

Your provider examines your joints, abdomen, and skin, looking for lumps, lesions, or other abnormalities. They check your eyes, ears, nose, and throat and observe your freedom of movement and balance. Your provider also looks for signs of poor mental health and conditions like dementia.

Annual physicals typically involve blood and urine tests. Some feature selected cancer screenings, including prostate exams for men and Pap smears for women to identify cell changes that could be due to cervical cancer.

Why do I need an annual physical?

A physical exam enables the team to identify anything suspicious and make further investigations. They can follow up on the issues you raise to see if there are any underlying problems and run tests to detect anything from an infection to anemia (low iron levels in your blood).

Annual physical tests and screenings identify silent killers like high blood pressure and high cholesterol that don’t cause symptoms. Unless you have these tests, you wouldn’t know there was a problem until you suffered a potentially life-threatening stroke, heart attack, or organ failure. 

Screening also helps you get early treatment for conditions like type 2 diabetes before they become irreversible. 

Are annual physicals the only routine exams available?

The team offers several routine exams and annual physicals, including:

Sports physicals

If you play sports or join a fitness club, they might require you to have a physical. This ensures that exerting yourself isn’t likely to cause preventable damage.

School physicals

Schools require children to have physicals at various ages.

Immigration physicals

Anyone wishing to move to the United States must undergo an immigration physical. In addition to completing a physical exam, your provider checks your vaccination status to see if you need any immunizations or boosters. They also determine if you have conditions like tuberculosis, which could be a public health risk.

It’s also a good idea to ask if specific paperwork is required for sports, school, and immigration physicals and bring it to your appointment so it can be filled out right away. 

Call the offices of Dawei Zheng, MD, ABFM, to arrange your annual physical or book an appointment online today.