Here at Beach Cities Medicine in Redondo Beach, California, Dr. David Wallis and his team are big fans of regularly scheduled comprehensive physical examinations. Whether it be identifying risk factors to optimize for cardiovascular health, cancer screening for early detection, or coaching in your lifestyle to help identify ways to do better – these are all best done in the context of a regularly scheduled visit where you are not rushed, can ask all the questions you want, and you have an expert physician who knows you personally and tailors treatments and advice to your goals.  Schedule a visit online or call the office today.

Comprehensive Physical Examination Q&A

A regularly scheduled annual physical is an opportunity for a unique intersection of great things in a person’s medical care. We take into account new developments in science and medicine, your current health status and habits, as well as your own personal goals and stage in life. We thoroughly evaluate your health and identify risks, we identify and discuss opportunities for improvement, and we ensure excellent communication and understanding – not only of our next steps but the reasoning and motivation behind them. We also develop a holistic follow-up plan for how we will continue to walk alongside you as your medical team in the year to come.

What are the benefits of a comprehensive physical examination?

The relationship – first and foremost, seeing a physician who takes the time to know you personally and takes interest in the many variables that affect our health – your marriage, your career, your dreams, and our fears – and not just the data on a lab sheet – is critical. Knowing patients well over the years is what has led Dr. Wallis into Family Medicine in the first place, and keeping that doctor-patient relationship at the heart of what we do is what has inspired him to establish Beach Cities Medicine.

Early cancer detection – an annual physical is a great time to regularly and proactively evaluate risk factors and screen for malignancies before they become clinically apparent. By staying on top of best practices and evolving research, integrating information from your personal and family history, and reviewing your laboratory data, your lifestyle, your medications, and your medical conditions, we seek to detect many malignancies at the first available opportunity.

Cardiovascular risk reduction – an annual physical is also a great time to holistically evaluate the myriad of influences that can influence your risks for strokes and heart disease. Our team will help to review your family history, your lifestyle, and your other medical conditions to identify opportunities for lowering your chance of a problem down the road – or to identify “silent” problems that may be starting already.

Lifestyle optimization – While pharmaceuticals and immunizations can be life-saving, there is nothing more life-giving than a healthy lifestyle. Paying attention to things like your sleep, exercise, nutrition, and other elements of a healthy and balanced lifestyle have been shown to have dramatic effects on the quality (and quantity) of life. Unfortunately, they’re all too easy to neglect, but David Wallis, MD, and his team look forward to encouraging our patients in these ways during their annual physicals.

What if I’m doing fine and don’t have any health problems?

That’s fantastic! We always hope our patients are blessed with good health – and endeavor to help keep it that way! Whether it be for cancer, cardiovascular risk optimization, or detecting signs of other systemic illness, we are big fans of early detection in order to help keep you doing well and enjoying an optimized quality of life, as well as longevity itself.

As the commonly term “silent killer” would imply, many diseases can wreak permanent harm on your body, despite not causing symptoms. Lack of awareness of damage that is occurring is not the same as health! Routine examinations and testing, as well as an in-depth review of any symptoms that many people experience but simply write off to “aging,” are important elements of early detection that we focus on at an annual physical.

Oftentimes, when patients are sick or injured, the attention of both the patient and their physician are understandably focused on the task at hand – getting them well! However, keeping well – through early detection, lifestyle optimization, and detailed review of signs of latent illness – is often overlooked at these times. Routine interval checkups are incredibly important for ensuring optimized health.

Common issues such as elevated blood pressure, suboptimal cholesterol profiles, and insulin resistance can all take a severe toll on your quality and quantity of life before causing any symptoms at all. These often start affecting people as early as their 30s (although in some people much earlier!), and thus we screen routinely for them. We also counsel regarding lifestyle optimizations that can often drastically improve these risk factors without medications.

And when medications are most appropriate, we take the time to discuss the risks and benefits of various options to share in the decision-making regarding what is best for you. As such, we endeavor to provide a holistic and personalized approach to each of our patients’ care.

I’ve heard of friends and colleagues having an “executive physical” – what is that and how does it differ from any other physical?

The term “executive physical” typically refers to a comprehensive physical that historically was provided to top executives of some companies. As opposed to “normal physicals,” which are covered by insurance companies, many corporations agreed to pay for “above-and-beyond” care for their top executives, including tests which often were not covered by insurance companies. These tests are often not recommended by mainline medical associations. However, they often give people the impression that they are being extra well taken care of.

At Beach Cities Medicine, we are beholden only to you. It’s one of our favorite things about our practice model! We are not beholden to any insurance company or hospital system. We are singularly focused on your health and individualizing your care.

If we think a test is indicated even though it’s unlikely to be covered by your insurance, we’ll tell you that. If an “executive physical” includes tests that we think are not advisable because the risks outweigh the benefits, or if the results are more likely to confuse rather than clarify the road forward – well, we’ll tell you that too.

We attempt to justify our logic in the tests we order so that we can help get your tests covered by insurance companies as much as possible as a courtesy to you. However, the specific tests we order is a decision between us and you. Insurance only gets a say in what they pay for, not how we treat you.

The bottom line is that some insurance companies, no doubt, will refuse to “cut corners” on what they cover. And other “executive physicals,” in an effort to prove some value over others, will subject people to unwarranted tests and procedures to make money.

But your comprehensive physical examination – by whatever name you please – should be just that: comprehensive, and all about you.

Contact Us to Learn More

To schedule your comprehensive physical examination, contact Beach Cities Medicine today! We’ll be happy to set up a date for your examination.