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5 Reasons to Schedule Your Next Physical ASAP
While a lot of people think that routine physical exams aren’t a high priority, they’re actually a great chance for you and the doctor to go over any changes you’ve been through in the past year and get a big-picture look at your health.
Dr. Arbi Ayvazian and our team at Rapid Response Urgent Care offer routine physical exams for our patients in Granada Hills, California. If you haven’t had an annual physical in a while, or if you need a physical for sports or the Department of Transportation (DOT), here are five reasons the team indicates you should schedule it ASAP.
5 reasons to schedule your next physical
If you need reasons to schedule your annual physical, here are five to get you started.
1. Establish a baseline or update your medical record
If you haven’t had an annual physical before, it’s important to establish a baseline for your health, something which the doctor can refer back to later on to see if anything has changed. If you’re already established, the annual physical is an opportunity to update your medical record with anything that’s changed since the last time you were in.
2. Conduct health screenings
Many serious health conditions, like high blood pressure (hypertension) and high cholesterol levels, don’t present any symptoms until you reach a crisis like a heart attack or stroke. An annual physical, though, screens for many different conditions, from hypertension to diabetes to iron-deficient anemia. When these are caught in their early stages of development, they’re a lot easier to treat and sometimes even reverse.
This is also a good time to get referrals for routine or follow-up screenings performed in other offices, like mammograms, cardiology, or physical therapy.
3. Update vaccinations
Many vaccinations require boosters to strengthen your immunity to specific diseases, like the flu, COVID-19, or tetanus. An annual physical gives you an opportunity to get the vaccinations you need in a timely fashion so that you don’t experience any gaps in coverage.
4. Lifestyle changes
As our lives change and we get older, our health needs change along with us. An annual physical gives your doctor the opportunity to adjust lifestyle factors, like a change in your exercise regimen, that will help ensure you remain healthy and safe. You can also discuss things like diet and nutrition, getting you-specific counseling.
5. Medication management
In the same way lifestyle changes over time, your medication regimen may also change. If one of the health screenings picked up something concerning, like high blood pressure, you may need medication to help manage it. Again, this is much easier to do when you catch problems early on; they’re much easier to treat, and treat successfully.
Bonus: Sports or work physicals
If you want to join a sports team, or if you’re starting a job with a lot of physical labor, you may need to get a specialized sports or work physical in order to participate or be hired. Rapid Response Urgent Care provides these, too. They can be done in place of your annual physical or as an add-on to that physical.
If it’s been a while since your last physical, or if you need a physical for work, school, or sports, Rapid Response Urgent Care can help. Walk in, call us at 818-923-5216, or book an appointment online today.