Is an Annual Physical Necessary?

In the medical community, however, experts are divided on whether there is a benefit to getting an annual exam. Some research has shown regular physicals don’t reduce rates of illness or mortality and are a waste of health-care resources. They also could be harmful, for example, when false positives result in additional, unnecessary testing. Other experts say a yearly checkup is an important part of building a physician-patient relationship and can lead to unexpected diagnoses such as of melanoma and depression.

A Check on Physicals

No one questions the importance of regular exams for well babies, children and pregnant women, and the protective value of specific exams, like a Pap smear for sexually active women and a colonoscopy for people over 50. But arguments against the annual physical for all adults have been fueled by a growing number of studies that failed to find a medical benefit.

Doctors Are Examining Your Genitals for No Reason

Proponents of yearly pelvic exams may say that they compel women to seek counsel from their doctors and receive vital information about their own health. (They also, of course, bolster gynecologists' job security.) But it's becoming clear that this line of thinking is self-defeating: There’s no reason for women to report to their doctors every year if they can’t even trust what they’re being told.

Examining the Annual Exam

I would argue, then, that glib dismissal is misguided. Rather, the safest and most promising option in the absence of answers to all relevant questions, is to optimize the annual exam, not discard it. There is no need for a battery of perfunctory procedures or ridiculously low-yield lab tests. But these could be replaced with a review of lifestyle practices and use of relevant preventive services; with time for pertinent, customized lifestyle counseling...

Get a Real Physical: What Your Doctor Should Be Checking

A real physical will look more comprehensively at body chemistry.

Guys, Go to the Doctor

What’s the best place for young men’s health care? Planned Parenthood.

If You’re a Healthy Woman, There’s No Evidence You Need an Annual Pelvic Exam

Yet another pillar of conventional preventive-health wisdom is crumbling. On Tuesday, a federal panel of medical experts announced that it has found an insufficient amount of evidence to support annual pelvic exams for healthy women who aren’t pregnant.

In Support of the Annual Physical Exam

For many doctors, the physical exam is a perfunctory exercise we perform on our patients because that’s what we were taught to do. Rarely, have I discovered something critically wrong with one of my patients during a well visit. But more than anything, shouldn’t we be focusing on preventative health care instead of discouraging patients to see their doctor annually? Aside from the unnecessary blood tests, over-prescribed medications and needless radiological scans, what’s so wrong with fostering this basic human interaction?

It’s Time to Reinvent the Physical Exam

In the technology-thick landscape of modern health care, the physical exam remains in a backwoods. Sure, there have been advances—blood-pressure cuffs, for example, now inflate themselves—but on the whole the exam has barely changed in the past century. Patients still open up and say “ah,” take deep breaths and gaze at a tiny light peering into the back of their eyes.

Maybe we don't all need annual physicals

The annual exam is one of the most common and encouraged procedures in modern medicine. Whether it actually helps people get any healthier, however, isn't completely clear.

Replace Annual Physicals with Real-Time Biomarker Monitoring

Modern technology could do a better job of picking up health problems before they get out of hand.

Skip Your Annual Physical

WE all make resolutions and promises to live healthier and better lives, to make the world a better place. Not having my annual physical is one small way I can help reduce health care costs — and save myself time, worry and a worthless exam.

The Case Against the Annual Checkup

Going to the doctor when you’re not sick does more harm than good.

The Slacker's Guide to Seeing the Doctor

How long can you put off a check-up before it really starts to matter?

TV doctors say annual checkups save lives. Real doctors call bullshit

A massive review of the evidence in 2012 found annual exams don’t save lives.

Unnecessary Screenings: 4 Medical Tests You May Not Need

Unfortunately, excessive screening can open the door to unnecessary surgeries and medications — not to mention needless anxiety. Here, four tests to reconsider.

Who's Right in the Debate Over Pelvic Exams?

Doctors disagree about whether annual gynecological checkups do more harm than good—and all the conflicting recommendations are leaving patients confused.

Why the Annual Physical Needs to Be Strengthened–Not Eliminated

Despite shortcomings, rather than abandoning the annual physical, it needs to be revitalized.

Why Tracking Health Too Closely Could Actually Work Against You

Some doctors have even suggested that annual physicals might be unnecessary for people who are in good health and who are not experiencing any symptoms of disease, because of the cost and the possibility of false positives.

Your Annual Checkup

Doctors and patients debate an assertion that the yearly exam is “basically worthless.”