Everyone needs to undergo a physical examination at some point, whether it’s an annual checkup to assess overall health or to help detect the presence of a disease or other ailment. Performing them often happens when becoming eligible to participate in activities, whether it’s qualifying for a sport, being deemed fit for a job, or ensuring you’re still able to do it.
Fitness for work becomes crucial when operating commercial vehicles. To confirm your ability to start or continue a job that involves this, a Department of Transportation (DOT) physical is mandatory. If your prospect of work depends on this to start or continue, let’s explore more about DOT physicals and what requirements you need to pass one.
Dr. Corey Skinner and the dedicated Action Chiropractic Dallas medical team are here to help North Texas residents manage various health issues, including ensuring they complete tasks such as a DOT physical.
The differences between these physicals are similar to those between a routine annual exam and a sports physical: the competency to perform. Commercial driving requires you to have and maintain a specific mental, physical, and emotional threshold to start and continue driving commercial vehicles.
These vehicles either carry over 15 people, hazardous materials, or have a gross weight of 5 tons (10,000 pounds). This includes operating buses, dump trucks, tow trucks, light commercial vehicles, and 18-wheelers. Since they’re significantly larger and more complicated to manage, specific health requirements must be met to do this safely.
This test comprehensively covers essential aspects of your medical history, which entails getting information about your medications, previous surgeries, current medical condition and related symptoms, and use of alcohol, tobacco, or controlled dangerous substances.
We’ll perform exams to test vision, hearing, blood pressure, and electrocardiograms (ECGs), as well as other factors that directly affect your ability to drive safely and cautiously. We also perform urine and blood screenings for drug testing or to determine the severity of an illness.
When you’re finished with the physical, the decision on whether you start work or are allowed to continue working driving a commercial vehicle depends on not dealing with problems like:
To make sure you’re in proper health for commercial driving, make an appointment online or by phone today at our office in Dallas, Texas, to get your DOT physical.
