Medical Evaluations
General Physical examinations and:
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Laboratory Tests
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Drug interactions
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Lifestyle behaviors: smoking, alcohol use, sexual health, diet, and exercise
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Sleep studies
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DNA testing for health predispositions and genetics
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Live imaging (MRI, CT, PET)
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Medical history
What is a Medical Evaluation?
The medical evaluation is an essential part of any doctor's visit. It provides a comprehensive assessment of your overall medical history and current conditions. It consists of questions regarding your medical history and an examination of the symptoms. The medical history and physical examination aid in determining the correct diagnosis and devise the treatment plan.
A complete physical examination is a general body examination performed by a doctor or general practitioner (GP). It covers most of the body's primary systems, including the heart, lung, gut, and nerve systems. Depending on the clinical scenario, an additional examination can be added. A complete physical examination aims to confirm any present issues after the clinical history and find possible pathologies that are unknown.
Why do I need a medical evaluation?
When pursuing treatment for a certain medical condition, whether physical or psychological, you must first undergo a thorough medical evaluation. Sometimes biological health problems manifest as traumatic appearance of pain, psychological problems at work, family, finances, society, etc. Medical science calls for adequately evaluating a medical problem before it can prescribe the right treatment.
Clinical history and physical examination have been essential in medicine since Western medicine was established centuries ago. However, with the advancement of technological investigations, many diseases are diagnosed with blood tests and imaging studies. Many diseases are diagnosed earlier using modern technology where previous physical examinations could find nothing, for example, prostate cancer, colon cancer, etc.
What is a comprehensive medical evaluation?
Biolife Health Center's comprehensive medical evaluation includes the following:
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General physical exam
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Complete medical history
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Blood and urine tests
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Vital signs
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Exams: Heart, lung, teeth and gums, ears, nose, sinuses, eyes, lymph nodes, thyroid, and carotid arteries
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Lifestyle behaviors: smoking, alcohol use, sexual health, diet, and exercise
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Drug interactions (prescription and non-prescription)
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Check for possible diseases so they can be treated early
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Identify any issues that may become medical concerns in the future
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Update necessary immunizations
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Ensure that you are maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine
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Sleep studies
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DNA testing for health predispositions and genetics' role in your health
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Live imaging (MRI, CT, PET)
What happens during a physical examination?
Before a physical examination, the doctor will ask for consent from the patient. If the patient is of a different gender from the doctor, a chaperone may be needed (especially when a male doctor examines a female patient). Usually, some body parts will need to be exposed, and permission is also obtained.
The physical examination usually starts with the vital signs, which include heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and temperature.
Generally, there are four parts of physical examination:
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Inspection: looking for signs
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Palpation: feeling for signs
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Percussion: tapping for signs, used when doing a lung and/or gut examination
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Auscultation: listening using the stethoscope
Not all of these may be present in the system's examination, but most will be. Depending on the doctor's training, the sequence of the systems covered may be different. However, all physical examinations strive to determine more about the patient's present disease or possible diseases yet to be diagnosed.
During the physical examination, the doctor strives to make the patient comfortable. However, sometimes tender spots need to be touched and examined for an accurate or reliable diagnosis.
After the physical examination, the doctor will tell the patient the clinical findings. Combined with the clinical history, the doctor will either proceed to investigations or manage the disease.
TESTIMONIALS
“I have always been able to talk to the doctor and get my problems resolved. Coming here is like dealing with a trusted family. Would not consider changing doctors.”
John P.
“I was truly impressed with your nice facility and the caring staff and friendly can-do attitude and smiles. All this adds up to customer service you rarely see these days! THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!”
Aaron
"I have been at the health center twice now and everyone listens to all of your problems and cares about you personally."
Edna
"This was a great experience visiting here. I never felt rushed, and they took their time going over my diagnosis."
Mindy
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What is Biofeedback?Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately “feedback” information to the user. The presentation of this information — often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior — supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.
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What conditions are helped by Biofeedback training?Successful outcomes, not limited to those listed below, have been reported by Neurofeedback Practitioners for: ADD/ADHD, addictions. anger, anxiety, autism, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, closed head injuries, concentration, depression, headaches and migraines, learning disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), pain management, reading skills, seizure disorders, sleep disorders and stroke recovery. Biofeedback has also proven effective when used for Peak Performance Training, such as developing memory skills, focusing abilities, and increasing concentration.
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What childhood conditions is Biofeedback successful in treating?Biofeedback has been used to treat seizures and subclinical seizure activity, problems of attention and learning, bipolar disorder, autistic spectrum, and other conditions.
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Why does Biofeedback work?The brain is amazingly adaptable. It is capable of making adjustments to improve its own performance if given cues about what to change. When the brain is regulating itself well and is alert and attentive, brainwaves (EEG) show particular patterns. We challenge the brain to maintain this “high-performance” alert and active state. Gradually, after 20 or more training sessions, the brain learns to stay at this high-performance state for longer periods of time and to retain these new skills.
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Do the effects of Biofeedback training really last?If the problem being addressed is one of brain dysregulation, then the answer is yes, and that covers a lot of ground. Biofeedback involves learning by the brain and if that brings order out of disorder, the brain will continue to use its new capabilities, and thus reinforce them.
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How is Biofeedback training done?At a training session, sensors are placed on your body. The sensors pick up information on your brain’s and body activity at very specific locations. (No electricity enters your brain. The sensors merely read information from the brain and body and relay it to the Practitioner’s computer.) You then sit back in a comfortable chair as you watch a computer monitor that displays a computer game, a movie, a bar graph, music, sounds or simply colors that change as your brainwaves change. The Practitioner monitors your brainwaves and sets training parameters which are based upon information obtained during your comprehensive intake process. This process gives your brain instantaneous feedback about its performance during the training session. On a subconscious level it begins to “work out” and It begins to produce more of the helpful type of brainwave patterns and less of those that are correlated with the symptoms you wish to address. With practice, your brain learns new patterns. Desirable neuronal pathways are strengthened and new pathways are created.
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How long do sessions last?Each session takes between 45 and 60 minutes. The actual training period lasts a maximum of 30 minutes. Additional time is needed beforehand for sensor placement and adjustment. We also speak with our clients briefly before and after each training session to monitor how things are progressing. We reserve 60 minutes for each client to ensure that no one is rushed and that there will be time to discuss the results you are experiencing.
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How many sessions will I need?Results from Biofeedback training are seen gradually, over time. Initial progress can be seen within 10 sessions for most conditions. A typical treatment program consists of between 15 and 30 sessions, depending upon the conditions being addressed, with the average being 15 sessions. Current understanding among Biofeedback providers is that it takes a minimum of 20 sessions for learning to be consolidated so the client can maintain the gains that have been made. Sometimes a client will complete 20 sessions, take a year off, and then return to complete training.
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How frequent should the training session be?When starting neurofeedback training, sessions should be regular and frequent at two or three (or more) sessions per week. As learning begins to consolidate, the pace can be reduced.
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What happens if Biofeedback clients are taking medication?With successful Neurofeedback / EEG Biofeedback training, the medications targeting brain function may very well no longer be needed, or they may be needed at lower dosages, as the brain takes over more of the role of regulating itself.
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What is the research on Biofeedback?Research continues to show that biofeedback therapy training, results in patients learning to control their own brain activity, while effectively “retraining” their own brain waves toward healthier patterns. Since its inception in the 1960s biofeedback has been rigorously studied. A recent review of the term biofeedback on the National Institute of Health’s database ‘PubMed’ reported that Biofeedback has gained attention in recent years showing only 948 articles and peered-reviewed research published between 1990 and 1995, and 2,267 published since 2010 to present. For current researh articles and publication visit our research page here.
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What is Neuroplasticity and how Biofeedback plays a role?Historically the brain was seen as hard wired with each area having its own function; when that area was injured the function was lost. Today the concept of neuroplasticity has replaced the hard wired model. Neuroplasticity refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury. Neuroplasticity occurs on a variety of levels ranging from cellular changes due to learning to large-scale changes involved in cortical remapping in response to injury. The role of neuroplasticity is widely recognized in healthy development, learning, memory and recovery from brain damage, all from which Biofeedback can help.