Physical

Physical

Physical may refer to:

·              Body, the physical structure of an organism

o               Human body, the physical structure of a human

·              Physical body, in physics, psychology, philosophy, mysticism and religion

·              Physical property, any aspect of an object or substance that can be measured or perceived without changing its identity

·              Physical abuse, abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.

·              Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor

·              Physical (Olivia Newton-John album)

·              "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song)

·              "Physical" (Alcazar song)

·              "Physical (You're So)" (1980), a song by Adam & the Ants from Kings of the Wild Frontier

Physical examination or clinical examination is the process by which a doctor investigates the body of a patient for signs of disease. It generally follows the taking of the medical history — an account of the symptoms as experienced by the patient. 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.

A physical examination may be provided under health insurance cover, required of new insurance customers, or stipulated as a condition of employment. In the United States, physicals are also marketed to patients as a one-stop health review, avoiding the inconvenience of attending multiple appointments with different healthcare providers.^[1][2] Comprehensive physical exams of this type are also known as executive physicals, and typically include laboratory tests, chest x-rays, pulmonary function testing, audiograms, full body CAT scanning, EKGs, heart stress tests, vascular age tests, urinalysis, and mammograms or prostate exams depending on gender.^[3][4] The executive physical format was developed from the 1970s by the Mayo Clinic and is now offered by other health providers, including Johns Hopkins University, EliteHealth and Mount Sinai in New York City.

While elective physical exams have become more elaborate, in routine use physical exams have become less complete. This has led to editorials in medical journals about the importance of an adequate physical examination

Although providers have varying approaches as to the sequence of body parts, a systematic examination generally starts at the head and finishes at theextremities. After the main organ systems have been investigated by inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation, specific tests may follow (such as a neurological investigation, orthopedic examination) or specific tests when a particular disease is suspected (e.g. eliciting Trousseau's sign inhypocalcemia).

With the clues obtained during the history and physical examination the healthcare provider can now formulate a differential diagnosis, a list of potential causes of the symptoms. Specific diagnostic tests (or occasionally empirical therapy) generally confirm the cause, or shed light on other, previously overlooked, causes.

While the format of examination as listed below is largely as taught and expected of students, a specialist will focus on their particular field and the nature of the problem described by the patient. Hence a cardiologist will not in routine practice undertake neurological parts of the examination other than noting that the patient is able to use all four limbs on entering the consultation room and during the consultation become aware of their hearing, eyesight and speech. Likewise an Orthopaedic surgeon will examine the affected joint, but may only briefly check the heart sounds and chest to ensure that there is not likely to be any contraindication to surgery raised by the anaesthetist. Non-specialists generally examine the genitals only upon request of the patient.

A complete physical examination includes evaluation of general patient appearance and specific organ systems. It is recorded in the medical record in a standard layout which facilitates others later reading the notes. In practice the vital signs of temperature examination, pulse and blood pressure are usually measured first.

Definitions of health and well being vary and tend to be two silent person related concepts that are often combined with a more societal level perspective. The first definition is that health and well-being can refer to the actual physical health of workers, as defined by physical symptomatology and epidemiological rates of physical illness and diseases. The second is that health and well-being can refer to the mental, psychological, or emotional aspects of workers as indicated by emotional states and epidemiological rates of mental illnesses and diseas