By KARAN MINNIS, Guardian Lifestyles Reporter

Winter is coming and with that so are common aliments like the cold and the flu, but if you were wise you would have already seen your doctor for a yearly physical and if you received a clean bill of health you should be okay. According to general practitioner, Dr. Martin Brown, at Kennedy Medical Center, if you haven't had a check up this year, you're past due and definitely at risk for a cold or flu.

"You should actually come in for a physical exam at least once a year — that's the bare minimum you should see a doctor and that applies only to those that are healthy and who don't have any particular complaints," says Dr. Brown.

He says there are individuals who have specific problems that they should check a little more frequently but on average if you have no particular complaints you should get into the habitat of doing a general physical at least once a year.

"A physical examination or clinical examination is simply the process where a health care provider investigates the body of a patient for signs of disease or aliments. It generally involves the taking of the medical history, an account of the symptoms as experienced by the patient and checking the different parts of a patient's body. Together with the medical history, the physical examination aids in determining the correct diagnosis and devising the treatment plan. This data then becomes part of the medical record."

Dr. Martin says the purpose of an annual visit is to screen for diseases, assess risk of future medical problems, encourage healthy lifestyles, the updating of vaccinations and to maintain a relationship with a doctor in the event of an illness.

He says even if you feel fine, you should still see your health care practitioner for a physical to check for potential problems.

"Just because you feel fine doesn't mean that you are fine. Most people who have high blood pressure don't even know it, and the only way to find out if you have hypertension is to have your blood pressure checked regularly. Likewise, high blood sugar and high cholesterol levels often do not produce any symptoms until advanced disease has occurred. These things are usually only found during physical exams." And he says since most people don't see their doctor regularly, in many cases, they don't even realize they are hypertensive.

He adds that although the process of a physical examination sounds simple, he says it differs from person to person. "For example if you have medical problems that need to be monitored and treated your visit will be different from a perfectly healthy individual.

"We will generally do a very general exam where you take a history and find out what the patient family histology is and we'll find out if the patient has any current complainants. Then we can do a general examination which can be very superficial or if they have some particular problem or if during the history taking you come across something in particular you may want to go into a little more depth. But generally speaking we just do a systematic exam where we check for obvious skin changes, for deformities, listen to the chest, feel the abdomen, and check the reflexes."

If the patient is female, depending on whether or not they have specific complaints, Dr. Brown says they will do a general exam.

"You're not just going to do a pelvic exam on a female who doesn't have some particular complaint or if they're not having something specific like a pap smear done. Your exam will really be tailored towards the patient, their complaints and the purpose for the visit."

Dr. Brown says a complete exam is a process, the first of which is to take the patients' history and then systematically examine each system. "Different people have different ways of going about what they do first and that's not important. The important thing is that you complete and examine everything. With a general exam you inspect each system, examine different parts with your hand and depending on the system you will also listen with a stethoscope. You go through three basic steps for each system — you do the chest, the abdomen, the muscular system, the nervous system and so on.

"If the results are normal then you'd end at that point, but if you find some abnormality then you might recommended doing something else — maybe more tests. This is why the patient's personal situation will determine the kind of exam they will have and why regardless of the outcome or the patients' fears. It is recommended that each person should have at least one physical exam per year — even if its just to ensure good health."

HEALTH

CHECKLIST

AGE 18 - 39

* Go to the dentist every year for an exam and cleaning.

* If you have vision problems, have an eye exam yearly. Everyone, including those with and without eye problems, should have regular eye exams yearly.

* Have your blood pressure checked yearly. Some pharmacies offer the service. If the systolic number (top number) is greater than 130 or the diastolic number (bottom number) is greater than 85, call your doctor.

* You should have one physical exam yearly. During the exam ask to have your cholesterol checked. Your height and weight should be checked at every exam.

* Men should perform a monthly testicular self-exam. If you are not sure what you should be looking for, contact your health care provider for instruction.

* Women should perform a monthly breast self-exam. If you are not sure what you should be looking for, contact your health care provider for instruction.

* Women should have a yearly pelvic exam and pap smear done to check for cervical cancer and other disorders.

* You should also have a tetanus-diphtheria booster every 10 years.

AGE 40 - 65

* Go to the dentist every year for an exam and cleaning.

* If you have vision problems, continue to have an eye exam every year. Everyone, including those with and without eye problems, should begin to have regular eye exams yearly, especially after the age of 40. Once you turn 45, make sure that you also have a tonometry done to check for glaucoma.

* Have your blood pressure checked every year.

* Have a physical exam every year. With each exam, you should have your height and weight checked.

* Men should have a yearly rectal exam to check for colorectal cancer and prostate cancer after the age of 50. You should also have a stool guaiac test done every year and flexible sigmoidoscopy every 3-5 years. Patients at high risk for colon cancer (those with long-standing ulcerative colitis, prior colorectal cancer, prior large colorectal adenomas and strong family histories of colon cancer) should be screened periodically with colonoscopy.

* Women should perform a monthly breast self-exam. If you are not sure what you should be looking for, contact your health care provider for instruction.

* Women should have a yearly pelvic exam and pap smear done to check for cervical cancer and other disorders.

* Women over the age of 40 should have a mammogram yearly to check for breast cancer. Early mammograms may be recommended for women at high risk for breast cancer.

* You should have a tetanus-diphtheria booster vaccination every 10 years.

* You should receive a flu vaccine every year after the age of 50.

AGE 65 AND OLDER

* Have an eye exam every year. Make sure your health care provider checks for glaucoma.

* Go to the dentist yearly.

* Have your blood pressure checked yearly.

* Have your hearing tested yearly.

* If your cholesterol level is normal, have it rechecked every 3-5 years.

* Have a yearly physical exam. With each exam, you should have your height and weight checked.

* Have a yearly rectal exam to check for colorectal cancer and prostate cancer. You should also have a stool guaiac test done every year.

* Every 3-5 years have a sigmoidoscopy exam or every 10 years have a colonoscopy. During this test, your health care provider will insert a telescope-like tube into a portion of your colon to check for cancer.

* Women should perform a monthly breast self-exam. If you are not sure what you should be looking for, contact your health care provider for instruction.

* Women should continue to have a yearly pelvic exam and pap smear done to check for cervical cancer and other disorders.

* Women should have a mammogram done yearly to check for breast cancer.

* Get the following vaccinations:

After age 65, a pneumonia vaccine.

A flu shot yearly.

Tetanus -diphtheria booster every 10 years.

Source: www.webmd.com and Dr. Martin Brown