During the one, two, or three weeks that you are enrolled in the Back to Health Program, you will be assigned a doctor to help you attain your individual health goals. Instead of the standard 15-minute examination that most doctors provide, your first appointment will last a full hour—ample time for your personal physician to review your medical history thoroughly, conduct a comprehensive physical examination, and address all of your concerns.

You may be pleasantly surprised to find that for the first time in your life, your doctor sees you as a whole person, rather than a collection of symptoms. What medications are you taking? What kinds of foods do you eat? Do you exercise? How stressful is your life? We recognize that only by really listening and observing can we truly understand your health goals and design a customized treatment plan to help you reach them.

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Noninvasive Testing

Diagnostic testing is an important element of the Back to Health Program. Your doctor will order medical tests to help obtain an accurate picture of your current health status.

If heart disease is a concern, we will evaluate not only your cholesterol and triglyceride levels but also emerging risk factors for heart disease such as homocysteine, lipoprotein(a), C-reactive protein, and clotting factors. You may also undergo two noninvasive tests that do a superb job of screening for cardiovascular disease: the treadmill stress test, which shows how well your heart functions during exercise, and the echocardiogram, which monitors the anatomy of your heart and measures the heart’s pumping capacity.

Blood tests to measure levels of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and thyroid hormones will help your doctor determine whether you suffer from hormone deficiencies that could increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, or other ailments. Bone density testing using state-of-the-art dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) will reveal the density and strength of your bones. To identify insulin resistance (a risk factor for type 2 diabetes), your doctor will review your fasting blood glucose, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and weight.

All of the information gathered from your history and physical examination as well as these and other noninvasive tests will be used to create your personalized treatment program.