Socks off for a physical?

I always keep my socks on. I have a weird thing about being barefoot anywhere but bed.

I asked my favorite NP, a sharp looking Asian female, Why the socks had to go? She said: I want to see if your toes are all fungal. She also did some tapping with that little rubber hammer.

When I have a woman on the patient end of my stethoscope, I ask her to take off shoes and socks so I can check her ankles and feet for edema, check the pulses in her feet and squeeze her toes to check capillary refill.

Sock off to do a diabetic foot exam - using this nylon fishing line thing to check for feeling in various parts of your foot.

In real exam I have always been told to take my socks off. Once I remember not doing so in an exam because the floor was so cold, but when the doctor came in he was rather angry that I had left them on and yanked them off me himself when I was on the exam table. Most doctors always seem to check feet that I can recall.

Interesting point... I've never been asked to as such, but when asked to undress I've always stripped naked including socks....

Ive always been able to keep my socks on

Barefoot as well

Yes I am barefoot during my annual physical for many of the above mentioned reasons as stated by others on this post. I have also sustained my share of running injuries to my left ankle so my doctor conducts an orthopedic exam on my ankle as well. Lots off bending and turning, testing the range of motion and strength of the ankle. She usually makes a smart ass remark along the lines of "Well it looks as though we won't have to amputate your ankle today. I have always wanted to try an amputation. Maybe someday but not today."

Took part in a medical study which included a body-mass assessment were I was asked to remove my socks for standing on the special scales. It was conducted in a hall and a woman was being examined immediately before me, after a while the male examiner came out from behind the screen and I heard him asking the woman to remove her tights as he came out. He waited a while then went back in and I wondered what it was about but when my turn came I realised you needed to have bare feet when you stood on the metal plate of the scales.

I've been examined by my sister-in-law a few times and if I'm expecting her to ask me if she can examine me I try and wear white socks that day but if I'm wearing my usual black socks I'll always take them off along with my other clothes.

Yes my doctor requires it with no polish. She touched my feet and pushes on my nails. She does it to all her patients.

Yes, socks off for physical. Doc usually checks sensation on top and bottom of feet. Don't recall that happening in my pre-diabetic years.

I wouldn't want to be barefoot either. The floors are cold. The only reason to have the patient barefoot is to examine pedal pulses, check for peripheral sensation and to check for upgoing toe (Babinski's sign).

Yes - usualy for a head to toe exam they have to come off too!

This for several reasons - an important one is the ckecking out of your reflexes!

No big deal for me - esp. when you have to completly disrobe anyway!

I recently had an AAA repair and in prep. for it I had ultra sounds, BP's taken on all 4 limbs, on toes, ankles, etc. to check my blood flow in my extremities. This all makes perfect sense when one is going to have vascular surgery. I actually enjoyed the attractive female tech. who did all this and ran her ultra sound probe over every inch of my abdomen leg and foot (including little BP cuffs wrapped around my toes). I felt cared for and I was grateful for such intimate examinations.

My father had an AAA and it was a life and death emergency. The doctors barely had time to put him under before they quickly cut him open to do the emergency repair. Afterward they said that at the rate the rupture was ballooning he probably had just minutes to live. Maybe that was hyperbole on their part, but it was a scary situation nonetheless.

You're correct JimmyJohnson. Patients who present with a near ruptured AAA or ruptured one rarely survive. Open up the abdomen and it's big red. Glad to hear that your father survived.

Usually I've never had a nurse or doctor specifically request socks be removed before or during the exam. Seems it would be necessary if going to a podiatrist or possibly looking into complications of diabetes.

Dont recall ever removing mine..

I always leave my socks on for my annual employment physical until the doctor asks me to take them off. It is usually scheduled for the winter and the clinic is in a basement with cold tile floors. My feet get very cold and then the company doctor says I have a circulation problem when he notices how cold they are. I usually have to follow up with my personal physician which costs me time and money just to tell me everything is fine. So very frustrating. The company doctor always palpates the pulse in my ankle, examines the nails, and drags a sharp instrument across the soles of my feet for reflex responses.

With my play doctor, I enjoy being sock-less regardless of the temperature.

Yes, for those I have to strip for the socks come off.

However, it seems those srr getting lees and less frequent.

Yes, for those I have to strip for the socks come off.However, it seems those srr getting lees and less frequent.

Sad. For the proper emotional and psychological tone to be set for the physical, the patient's level of undress is critical. For the proper balance of power and control of doctor/examiner and patient, it is fundamental that the patient be undressed to emphasize his position of powerlessness and surrender of power to the all powerful and controlling examiner. Proper dress for the patient should be undershorts only. Bare feet emphasize the submissive role of the patient--so socks must come off. I prefer the shorts be left on, as opposed to complete nudity, to enhance the patient's anxiety and anticipation since he then has to wait to see if they are coming down if the examiner desires.

The thing I do to assure myself of being barefoot for physicals is that I wear no socks when I go for one.

No female patient submits to my physicals with socks or nylons on. She has to be bare feet.

I have to check her Babinski reflexes, pedal pulse, plantar layout and toe capillary refill.

The weigh-n process also is done with patient bare feet.

I've always kept my socks on

Socks always off. Have to be barefoot for the physical

It seems to depend on the doctor, I guess. Going back to physical exams when I was young I remember being told to undress down to my underwear and socks. One time, I was told to take off everything, including underwear, but I could leave my socks on. I've had this happen a few other times, once as a teenager, and two or three times as an adult.

I always have felt more naked, or exposed, just wearing socks than I do when I'm wearing nothing at all for the physical.

My wife and I have conjoint physicals, and if we are wearing socks we can leave them on. Since our physicals have been during the warmer months the past few years my wife hasn't worn nylons or socks to the exam. I usually wear ankle socks with sneakers to the exam. When my wife has been examined during the colder months, she has left on whatever thigh hi's, knee hi's, or socks she was wearing. Of course pantyhose come off if she is wearing those.

I'm asked to "undress completely" which of course would include socks. Though my current doctor has never specifically examined my feet.

My female doctor requires a complete state of nudity with a gown on for my Physicals, so I always take my socks off. She also examines my feet as well.