Every year, you head to your doctor’s office for a physical. They take your blood pressure, chart your height and weight, and instruct you to open your mouth and say “Ah.” They might draw some basic bloodwork, after which your physician says, “We’ll call you if anything comes up, but if you don’t hear from me, you’re good to go.” You’re granted a clean bill of health and sent on your way. The receptionist asks if you’d like to schedule for next year and you leave with an appointment reminder card tucked into your pocket.
Roughly 92% of Americans believe regular physicals are important, and every year, around 68 million Americans get one. For many, this annual appointment can feel like checking a box—then moving on without thinking much about their health until the next one.
88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy. 60% of U.S. adults are living with at least one chronic condition, with chronic disease prevalence set to nearly double by the year 2050. And 70% of cancer deaths are from cancers that have no routine screening.
So while the annual physical may be a great way to touch base with your doctor and raise some concerns, incorporating different health approaches can give you a more comprehensive understanding of your health.
History of the physical
The groundwork for the physical exam dates as far back to 400 BC when Hippocrites established medicine as rational and declared it a profession. In the 1700s, Leopold Auenbrugger began using percussion of the chest to diagnose lung and heart conditions. The stethoscope was invented in 1816 and William Osler introduced physical diagnosis to medical education clinics at Johns Hopkins University in 1893.
These exams became more standardized by the early 1900s, when companies like the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company decided to require policyholders to undergo a physician examination before granting them coverage. Then, the military and industrial industries began making these tests a part of validating workforce readiness and screening for infectious diseases.
For years since, the tradition of the physical exam has continued, with doctors often recommending patients visit them once a year for a physical. Today’s physical exams often consist of:
- Measuring your height and weight
- Checking vital signs, such as blood pressure, body temperature and respiratory rate
- Review your family history and medication list
- Listening to your heart and lungs with a stethoscope
- A physical body inspection of your ears, tongue, reflexes, and lymph notes
- May include bloodwork and lab tests that checks for basics such as a lipid panel, complete blood count, and urinalysis
What an annual physical can do
A physical exam provides a valuable opportunity to update your physician on how you’ve been feeling and uncover issues that may need follow-up. A typical physical can enable you to:
- Bring up new symptoms like fatigue, sleep problems, or pain with urination—which can inspire additional testing or specialist referrals
- Evaluate whether you're at a healthy weight per your body mass index (BMI)
Related: Why tracking your BMI is becoming irrelevant
- Review the current medications and supplements you are taking to check for side effects or drug interactions
- Detected in-office abnormalities, like an irregular heart beat, enlarged lymph nodes, or visible skin changes
Your annual physical is designed to screen for obvious signs that something may need a closer look. For instance, if your doctor takes your blood pressure and finds out that it’s high, they may order further cardiovascular testing, such an electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG). A suspicious mole might lead to a dermatology consult.
Limitations of a physical
While annual physicals can be helpful for spotting surface-level issues, they may not be able to help detect more serious or silent conditions, such as cancers in early and more treatable stages, aneurysms before they burst, spinal degeneration before it turns into lifelong pain, and visceral fat hidden behind the abdominal wall, which can be contributing to chronic inflammation, diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease.
Related: 12 hidden conditions a whole body MRI can help detect before symptoms start
That’s led many experts to take a closer look at whether these exams are truly effective—or if they need to evolve.
For instance, a Cochrane review that looked at the benefits and harms of general health checks, determined that these exams do not reduce the risk of death from any cause, including cancer or cardiovascular disease. The research also found that these exams also have little to no impact on preventing heart disease or stroke, despite being commonly used for these purposes.
And some doctors are even stepping away from performing the annual physical, opting instead for more targeted, personalized approaches.
Changing needs, changing tools
Annual physicals are mainly performed via a stethoscope, a doctor using their hands for a physical evaluation, and through a series of doctor questions and patient answers. But they don’t typically include advanced imaging, in-depth metabolic testing, or tracking your health over time—tools that may identify potential abnormalities, when treatment can be more effective.
The diseases we face today require different approaches:
- 1 in 2 people will develop some type of cancer within their lifetime.
- Only 4 types of cancers have regular screenings like mammograms (breast cancer), colonoscopies (colon cancer), PAP tests (cervical cancer), and low-dose CT screening for lung-cancer (only for those deemed high risk).
- And 14% of cancers are detected by those screenings.
- Around 65% of Americans ages 21 and older report not being up-to-date on at least one routine cancer screening.
- 1 in 3 people with an aneurysm don’t find out before it ruptures.
- Changes in the brain may occur a decade or more before symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease begin.
- One study found that nearly half of adults over 40 may have a form of heart disease that they didn’t know about.
Related: Early cancer detection screens aren’t just for high-risk people
A new approach to proactive care: MRI + bloodwork, tracked over time
The average primary care visit lasts just 18 minutes, which may not be enough time to cover basic health concerns. And many potentially serious conditions require deeper testing and ongoing monitoring to help catch them early enough to be treated effectively.
Chronic ailments like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders often develop quietly over time. And traditional check-ups, which rely on quick readings of your blood pressure and brief conversations with your physician, can miss these important changes happening inside your body. That’s where different technologies, like MRI scans and comprehensive bloodwork, that provide additional health information, can offer a more proactive approach to your health.
In just under an hour, Prenuvo’s whole body MRI scans your body for hundreds of conditions, including tumors, chronic inflammation, musculoskeletal degeneration, and more. For a more comprehensive assessment, an Enhanced Screening goes even further, offering a detailed look at brain health for early signs of neurodegeneration, a full body composition report, and is combined with a blood test to check key biomarkers related to liver, kidney, cardiovascular function, and hormonal health.
Whole body MRI and detailed blood analysis can provide more health information beyond what you can feel, see, or often discuss during an annual physical. When tracked over time, this can help you catch subtle changes in your body that, if untreated, could lead to health conditions over time. It can also be a powerful tool to take to your physician and use together to create a personalized strategy towards maximizing your health, whether that’s shifting your diet, altering your workout routine, or taking other preventive steps.
This isn’t about ditching your doctor—it’s about adding new tools to your health check-ins that give you a preventive edge against today’s staggering health statistics.
Book a call with a member of our team to learn more about the benefits of a whole body MRI or schedule your scan today to supplement with your annual physical.
