What is the difference between preventive care and physical examination

Physical examinations take "regular snapshots" of the body and are only responsible for capturing abnormal indicators that have appeared at the moment. Preventive health care is to build a "long-term protection net" for health and block the risk loopholes that may induce diseases from the source.

Take the example of Xiao Zhou, a 32-year-old programmer who came to our center for a physical examination last month. His physical examination for two consecutive years showed a critical increase in uric acid. Every time he took the report, he threw it aside and continued to stay up late, drink cold beer, and eat seafood. Last month, gout broke out for the first time. His feet were so swollen that he couldn't wear shoes, so he came to ask me how to intervene. You see, blood tests for uric acid and liver and kidney function color ultrasound are part of the physical examination. The low-purine diet plan, weekly exercise plan, and even the reminder that he drank half a cup of soda before each dinner party that I later gave him were all part of preventive health care.

Of course, I have also met many people who think that preventive health care is an IQ tax. "It's enough to spend thousands every year on high-end physical examinations. Why do those useless ones?" This statement is actually not completely unreasonable. There are indeed many exaggerated health care projects on the market, charging high prices in the name of prevention, and it is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish them. But you have to know that a physical examination can only reflect your physical condition in just a few hours during the examination. If you smoked every day, stayed up late, and consumed high-fat and high-salt meals for more than half a year, you can't rely on a physical examination once a year to cover these risks that have accumulated over time, right? There was an old resident who had a normal physical examination every year. However, he had a heart attack in winter and was sent to the emergency room. Later, we found out later that he had high blood pressure for three years. He never took medicine or monitored it. He thought that everything would be fine after the physical examination. This is a typical example of equating physical examination with health protection and missing the link of daily preventive care.

To put it bluntly, the relationship between the two is like taking care of your own yard. A physical examination is equivalent to squatting down and checking every quarter to see if there are any weeds or insects. Preventive care means that you water, loosen and fertilize regularly, and pull out the weeds as soon as they appear. You don’t have to wait for the insects to eat the flowers and the grass to grow half a person’s height before you realize that you need to clean it up. And the two are not completely separated. Nowadays, many special physical examinations, such as early cancer screening and bone density testing, are themselves part of secondary prevention in the public health field. Abnormalities found in physical examinations can just point the direction for preventive care. Long-term persistence in preventive care can also make your annual physical examination indicators look better and make you less likely to go to the hospital.

For us ordinary people, there is really no need to worry about which one is more important. Get a physical examination on time every year that is suitable for your age group. Don’t take the up and down arrows on the report seriously. Stay up less late at night, walk two more steps and take less elevators. These small and inconspicuous things are the most cost-effective health investments.