Routine Physical Exams

A routine physical exam — sometimes called an annual wellness visit or yearly checkup — is a structured preventive visit where the goal is to screen for problems before they become symptoms. Unlike a sick visit, a physical is about the big picture: your numbers, your risk factors, your screenings, and what's coming up in the next year of your life.

At Good Health NC in Knightdale, a routine physical isn't a 10-minute box-check. It's a real conversation built around three things: review of your history and lifestyle, a full physical exam, and the right labs and screenings for your age and risk profile. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force sets the screening framework we use, and we walk through what's appropriate for you — not a template that everyone gets.

We perform several distinct types of physicals, each with its own purpose:

• Annual wellness exam (commercial insurance) — the standard preventive visit for adults, fully covered by most plans once per year
• Medicare Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) — a Medicare-specific preventive visit with a defined structure: health risk assessment, cognitive screen, fall-risk review, and a personalized prevention plan
• New-patient comprehensive exam — for adults establishing care, often longer than a standard wellness visit because we're building the medical history from scratch
• Pre-employment physical — for job offers requiring medical clearance, including specific testing the employer requires (drug screen, vision, hearing) when needed
• DOT physical — for commercial drivers, performed by a certified medical examiner per Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirements
• Sports and camp physicals — for adolescents and young adults, using the standard NC sports physical form; available as same-day walk-in urgent care during the back-to-school window
• Pre-operative clearance — focused exam, labs, and EKG when needed before scheduled surgery

Not every physical is the same. We'll match the visit type to the actual reason you're coming in.

A routine adult physical at Good Health NC runs 45 to 60 minutes for a new patient and 30 to 45 minutes for established patients. The structure:

1. History review — past medical history, surgeries, family history, current medications, allergies, immunization status, lifestyle factors (sleep, activity, alcohol, tobacco, mental health)
2. Vitals — blood pressure (often two readings), heart rate, height, weight, BMI, oxygen saturation
3. Full physical exam — head and neck, eyes, ears, mouth and throat, lymph nodes, thyroid, heart, lungs, abdomen, skin, neurological screen, and musculoskeletal exam
4. Targeted exams when indicated — clinical breast exam, prostate exam, pelvic exam, foot exam (essential for diabetes patients)
5. Screening labs — drawn on-site: CBC, comprehensive metabolic panel, lipid panel, A1C or fasting glucose, thyroid panel, urinalysis, and age- and risk-appropriate cancer screening labs
6. EKG when indicated — for chest symptoms, palpitations, cardiovascular risk factors, or pre-operative evaluation
7. Vaccine update — flu, COVID, Tdap, shingles, pneumococcal — whatever is due gets done at the same visit (see our immunizations program)
8. Personalized prevention plan — a written summary of what we found, what's normal, what needs follow-up, and what screenings are due in the next year

Most results are available within 24 to 72 hours, and we contact you with all of them — including the normal ones.

What gets screened depends on your age, sex, and risk factors. The standard adult menu includes:

• Cardiovascular — blood pressure, lipid panel for cholesterol care, 10-year ASCVD risk calculation
• Metabolic — A1C or fasting glucose for diabetes screening, thyroid panel when indicated
• Cancer screening — colorectal cancer screening (colonoscopy, stool DNA, or FIT) starting at 45, breast cancer screening (mammogram) starting at 40 to 50, cervical cancer screening (Pap and HPV) on the standard interval, lung cancer screening (low-dose CT) for adults 50 to 80 with significant smoking history, prostate cancer screening (PSA) with shared decision-making starting at 50, skin cancer screening with focused skin exam
• Mental health — depression and anxiety screening, alcohol and substance use screening
• Bone health — bone density (DXA) screening for women starting at 65, sooner with risk factors
• Infectious disease — Hepatitis C screening at least once for adults 18+, HIV screening at least once for adults, STI screening based on risk profile
• Immunization review — current with everything on the CDC adult schedule
• Cognitive and fall-risk screening — for adults 65+ and as part of the Medicare AWV

If something on this list hasn't happened in your care in the past few years, the annual physical is the place to catch it up.

General guidance:

• Adults 18 to 39 — every 2 to 3 years for low-risk adults, annually if you have any chronic conditions or significant risk factors
• Adults 40 to 64 — annually. This is the window where screening yields the most clinical impact
• Adults 65+ — annually, with a Medicare Annual Wellness Visit on top of any chronic-care follow-ups
• Adolescents (sports physicals) — annually before the start of each athletic season, per NC high school athletic association requirements
• Pre-employment, DOT, and pre-operative physicals — as required by the employer, regulatory body, or surgical team

If it's been more than three years since your last full physical — regardless of how good you feel — it's time. Most of what we screen for in adult medicine has no early symptoms, which is exactly why screening exists.

A real annual physical takes time and attention. Here's what makes ours different:

• Real appointment time — 45 to 60 minutes for new-patient physicals, never templated, never rushed
• On-site labs and EKG — done in the same visit, with most results back the next day
• Vaccines done on the spot — flu, COVID, Tdap, shingles, pneumococcal — whatever is due gets handled at the same visit
• A real written prevention plan — not a one-page handout, but a personalized summary of what we found and what's coming up
• Coordinated chronic care — if your physical uncovers a new diagnosis, we manage it in-house rather than handing you off
• A 22-year primary care provider running every visit — our experienced PA-C clinical lead
• Walk-in availability for sports physicals during peak season
• A team that lives in the community — Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Garner, and East Raleigh

If your last physical was 10 minutes and a printout, we'd be glad to show you what one is actually supposed to look like.