The Importance of an Annual Physical

Even if you’ve been in good health recently, feeling fine with no problem symptoms, you should still see your doctor for an annual physical or wellness exam. Why? Well, good health isn’t something you can rely on lasting forever without the right awareness, guidance, and daily care. You might feel good today, but what about tomorrow?

The team at Trinity Salem Family Health Clinic, PLLC, of Waxahachie, Texas, is here to help you stay in good health as much as possible. Whether you’re currently fit as a fiddle, or if you have chronic illness like hypertension or diabetes, regular wellness exams are an essential part of your immediate and long-term health care needs.

Regular checkups no matter your age

At Trinity Salem Family Health Clinic, PLLC, we provide regular health exams to patients of all ages. Just as babies and small children need regular pediatric checkups, adults of all ages also need regular checkups with their primary care physician.

Keeping your scheduled annual physical exam lets your provider at Trinity Salem Family Health Clinic establish a baseline record of your condition. As the years go by, this record can save your life, showing early warning signs if unexpected changes occur.

There’s no better time to start building this documentation baseline than the present. The more years you stick to your scheduled wellness visit, the longer and more detailed the compiled picture of your overall health becomes.

Detecting and managing chronic conditions

Approximately 3 in 5 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with some type of chronic disease or condition at some point in their lives. If your annual physical exam shows signs of health problems, early detection makes a difference! 

Screenings like routine checks on your blood pressure mean that it’s possible to catch problems before they progress and become more serious, more expensive, and harder to treat.

If you have risk factors that elevate the likelihood of developing serious chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease, your wellness visits let your provider assess recent changes in your health in the context of chronic illness.

A chronic condition doesn’t have to be a life-ender. Conditions including diabetes, hypertension, or kidney, lung, or heart disease, can be effectively managed with the right treatment plan, especially with the benefit of early detection.

Keeping up with your yearly care needs

It can be tricky to keep track of all of your yearly health care needs. Routine vaccinations or vaccine boosters, screenings, and more may need to be conducted yearly, or every few years based on a professionally-recommended schedule.

Some of these regular care needs also differ based on your gender or age, so the requirements for you may change without your realizing it.

When you come in for your yearly wellness visit, your provider lets you know if you have any health care needs coming due at that time. We provide vaccinations in-office, and partner with medical labs for your routine screening needs, checking factors like your blood glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels.

As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That means that it’s better to keep up with your preventive care and recommended screenings, rather than dealing with health conditions that have developed tricky and time-consuming complications due to lack of early detection.

If you’ve fallen behind on your annual physicals, contact the team at Trinity Salem Family Health Clinic PLLC online or over the phone today and schedule an exam now.