Am I getting short changed by my Doctor?

I've seen videos with the patient performing exercises such as push-ups and sit-ups, but no Doctor has ever asked me to do any sort of physical exercise. My current Doctor requires me to strip to just my underwear (socks come off, too), and eventually has me drop the underwear as well for the hernia and prostate exams. I think that makes him a more "traditional" Doctor in terms of being thorough. However, he doesn't do anything to test my agility (the reflex exam on my knees doesn't count as agility). Am I getting short changed, or is this not part of a realistic physical examination?

Hi Funtimes, you are not getting short changed at your physical, as a matter of fact you get more than a lot of people do these days. A lot of times, well no, all the time a physical is based on your age and medical history for the most part. If you walk in on your own 2 feet and seem to be walking without difficulties or other signs and symptoms and you have no complaints of issues related to agility then there really is no reason at all to make you do things like that. With kids it's different. Often they are asked to do some things like balancing on one foot then the other, walking a line and other things which lets the doctor see how that child's motor skills are developing and or if they are on track for their age.

So while I am only a nurse and I perform assessments as apposed to physicals, it's my opinion that you are not getting short changed at all. Some of the doctors here may want to weigh in here, heheh, pun intended, lol.

Mashie

I do not think it is a standard component of a physical examination but it is not completely unusual. When I was a teenager my doctor was concerned about an irregular heart beat so she actually had me running in place for a few minutes, checked my heart rate again then ordered an EKG. I had a follow appointment several months later which included a Harvard Step Test. I think a doctor can gauge ones state of physical strength by a visual body observation as well as range of motion tests. Do tell...are the videos available on line anywhere?

Greetings, Funtimes - and I agree with Mashie, sounds like you got a better-than-average physical already, especially in this managed care day and age.

I had flexibility tests like you saw in the video, but they ended once I was out of my teens. Evidently just being able to walk into the office, hop up on the scale/exam table, bend over for The Finger was all the proof of fitness and flexibility they needed once I was an adult.

That your dr. performed hernia and prostate exams is above the norm in my recent experience. I haven't gone for a full physical in 5 or more years, partly because the last ones I had (both male MD's, FYI), I kept my clothes on two years later, my then-GP pushed his stethoscope into the top of my shirt to listen to my heartbeat, then had me lie back on the table and slid one hand across my abdomen and lower stomach and asked "Any problems?" - that was pretty much the whole yearly exam. That, plus a bill for $155.

I'd like to see your dr., sounds like they're still practicing medicine, unlike many these days..

Um.. Short changed? That's just insulting.

Great perspective, Mashie!

Turkent, yes...plenty videos online that demonstrate exercises during physicals. Here is one...enjoy!

http://www.redtube.com/754057

Bernera...sounds like you know what should be expected based on earlier experiences. Thanks for sharing!

As a board certified internist I must say I have never seen or been taught that physical agility testing is or should be part of a routine physical exam. Maybe if it's for some specific sports participation purpose but otherwise not. Why? What's the point? I'm assuming the patient came in without any specific musculoskeletal complaints. If there were musculoskeletal complaints then we're not talking about a routine physical: we're talking about a problem-focused exam where such testing may be appropriate. But, absent those complaints I can't imagine the purpose.

You think in a busy ED I've got time for that? You must be crazy... As for an office physical, Rayme said it all.

Never been asked to do anything like that. I've had a few docs ask me to touch my toes to check for flexibility and perhaps spinal alignment. But never had to do any calisthenics. That would be very odd, IMO.

I think this type of thing is pretty old school and is only really covered by a stress test which is only ordered as needed