Medical Diagnostics at the Tannerhof: Health Check and Care

Key points at a glance

• The Tannerhof has a medical private practice on site with an integrative approach combining naturopathy and conventional medicine — Gesundheit ohne Dogma (health without dogma).
• Diagnostics range from bioimpedance analysis through resting and exercise ECG, long-term blood pressure and ultrasound to lung function testing and a comprehensive laboratory panel.
• A health check here is not only measurement but an arc from history-taking and examination to follow-up consultation and a thorough closing discussion.
• The bioimpedance analysis measures body composition — water, muscle and fat — and is a fixed part of the physical examination.
• For a broader spectrum, there is a cooperation with the Agatharied Academic Teaching Hospital; billing runs through the private practice at the Tannerhof.

Medical diagnostics at the Tannerhof: an overview

Anyone who travels to the mountains to find calm often also wants to know where they stand in terms of health. That is exactly what the medical private practice on site at the Naturhotel Tannerhof is for. It cares almost exclusively for house guests and sees the health check not as a run through a row of machines but as a calm conversation with findings: what is there, what can be measured, and what it means for the individual.

This attitude has a history at the Tannerhof. The house is in its fifth family and fourth medical generation, and diagnostics has long been part of how it sees itself. Was heute Longevity heißt, machen wir schon seit 120 Jahren — what is called longevity today, we have been doing for 120 years. Anyone wishing to see the setting on site will find it in the overview of the health programmes. The place does its part: Bayrischzell, the upper Leitzach valley, the view towards the Wendelstein. Mein Versteck in den Bergen — my hideaway in the mountains; an examination, too, feels different when it does not take place in the rush of everyday life.

At its core, this article answers three questions: what diagnostics are available on site, how the medical care is structured, and what the integrative medicine the Tannerhof stands for actually means.

What the on-site diagnostics include

The diagnostic spectrum at the Tannerhof is deliberately broad, so that a health check reflects more than a single value. The following procedures are available in the private practice and are assembled individually:

• Bioimpedance analysis to measure body composition — the proportion of water, muscle and fat mass.
• Resting ECG and exercise ECG to assess cardiac activity at rest and under exertion.
• Long-term blood pressure measurement without a cuff, with a sleep screening across the day and night.
• Ultrasound of the heart, abdominal organs, thyroid and the arteries supplying the brain.
• Lung function test to record breathing volume and airflow.
• Comprehensive laboratory panel with individual extension.

These procedures complement one another. A single value says little; only in the interplay of body composition, cardiovascular diagnostics, imaging and laboratory work does a picture emerge that the doctors at the Tannerhof can discuss with the guest. The bioimpedance analysis is part of the physical examination and is carried along wherever diagnostics take place.

The bioimpedance analysis: making body composition visible

The bioimpedance analysis, or BIA, is an established method for measuring the composition of the body. Weak, imperceptible electrical currents are used to determine the body's resistance: muscle, fat and water conduct electricity differently, and from these differences fat mass, fat-free mass and water content can be derived. The method is widely used in nutritional and sports medicine and is scientifically recognised.

For the individual guest, the bioimpedance analysis makes the difference between weight and substance visible. Two people of the same body weight can be composed very differently. In connection with questions of nutrition, metabolism and regeneration, the BIA therefore provides a starting point from which changes can be read over time — for instance as part of a longevity stay, in which diagnostics and care come together over several days.

Heart, circulation and vessels

On the cardiovascular side, the Tannerhof combines several procedures. The resting ECG records the heart's electrical activity at rest, while the exercise ECG complements the picture under physical exertion. Long-term blood pressure measurement without a cuff records blood pressure across the day and at night and includes a sleep screening. Ultrasound of the heart and of the arteries supplying the brain rounds off the vascular diagnostics. The result is a differentiated picture of heart, circulation and vessels that goes far beyond a single blood pressure reading.

Imaging and organs

At the Tannerhof, ultrasound extends beyond the heart. The abdominal organs, the thyroid and the arteries supplying the brain can all be examined. This imaging diagnostic is non-invasive and gives a direct impression of the structure and condition of the organs. Where a broader spectrum is needed — such as gastroscopy and colonoscopy, cardiac catheterisation or cardiac MRI — the cooperation with the Agatharied Academic Teaching Hospital applies, where a radiology practice for imaging procedures is also located.

Lung function and laboratory

The lung function test records how much air the lungs hold and how the airflow runs. Added to this is a comprehensive laboratory panel that can be individually extended. It includes, among other things, blood count, inflammation markers, coagulation, liver and kidney values, muscle enzymes, blood lipids, protein electrophoresis and long-term blood sugar; for men, the PSA value is included. Which values are useful follows from the history and the medical assessment — the laboratory is not a rigid package but is tailored to the individual.

Medical care: from conversation to findings

At the Tannerhof, diagnostics are embedded in medical care that begins with a conversation and ends with one. At the start stands the detailed health examination with history-taking and physical examination. The medical history is the doctor's enquiry into the patient's medical past: existing complaints, prior illnesses, medications, life circumstances. Only on this basis is it decided which diagnostics make sense in each case.

The examination itself is consultation-oriented. The Tannerhof describes the consultation as a time for speaking and listening — time in which questions have room and findings are not discussed in passing. Where it fits, a medical follow-up consultation follows, in which individual topics are explored in more depth. At the end stands a closing discussion with a detailed review of findings: what the examinations have shown, what that means, and which recommendations carry into everyday life. On request, a detailed findings report is provided.

For the care, a simple order applies: first the conversation, then the measurement, then the conversation again. This bracket turns individual values into an interpretation. The doctors at the Tannerhof are also experts in fasting, and individual medical nutritional counselling is part of the spectrum too — for guests who want to order their everyday life differently after the stay.

Integrative medicine: naturopathy and conventional medicine

The Tannerhof understands medicine integratively. That means naturopathy and conventional medicine are not set against one another but brought together. The medical leadership holds the additional qualification in naturopathy as well as in nutritional medicine; the team also includes internal medicine and gynaecology with a focus on prevention. Apparatus-based diagnostics and naturopathic experience thus meet in the same place.

This self-understanding can be captured in a sentence the house has long used for itself: Gesundheit ohne Dogma — health without dogma. Conventional diagnostics supply the values and images; the naturopathic perspective places them in a larger context of nutrition, movement, regeneration and the rhythm of life. From this, the Tannerhof often arrives not at a prescription but at a recommendation the guest carries forward themselves.

The professional grounding reaches beyond the house. The Tannerhof is part of the Medical Society for Fasting and Nutrition (ÄGHE), which distinguishes between preventive and therapeutic fasting and describes medical supervision as binding for therapeutic fasting. The guidelines on fasting therapy come from the ÄGHE; further studies can be consulted there. This connection explains why diagnostics, nutritional medicine and fasting practice are thought of together at the Tannerhof rather than side by side.

Preventive medicine: measure, interpret, accompany

Preventive medicine does not ask about health only once something hurts. It seeks to recognise risks early and to keep the healthy balance for as long as possible. The statutory health check-up in Germany — possible from the age of 35 every three years — comprises history-taking, a physical examination including blood pressure measurement, and laboratory values such as cholesterol and glucose. It is a sensible starting point but focuses on the common widespread diseases.

At the Tannerhof, prevention reaches further. The on-site diagnostics go beyond the basic check and combine body composition, cardiovascular diagnostics, imaging, lung function and an extendable laboratory with time for conversation. This makes it possible not only to gather individual findings but to consider connections — and to carry them into care that does not end with the last measured value.

Anyone wishing to experience this preventive idea over several days will find it in the health programmes on site. The longevity programme combines diagnostic modules such as bioimpedance analysis, ultrasound, laboratory and long-term blood pressure with treatments over seven nights. Body Detox focuses on medically supervised therapeutic fasting after Buchinger. Accompanying treatments from the broad therapy offering — from bioimpedance analysis and IHHT altitude training through compresses, baths and massages to breathing and movement therapies — can be found in the overview of the therapies at the Tannerhof.

The private practice on site

Medical care at the Tannerhof runs through a private practice geared entirely to house guests. Appointments are arranged through the therapy reception in the bathhouse, and it is advisable to coordinate a desired diagnostic or treatment programme — in timing and in content — with the therapy reception before arrival. This allows the stay to be planned so that examination, review of findings and treatments interlock.

Both a compact and a detailed health examination can be booked, along with ready-assembled treatment packages of history-taking, diagnostics and follow-up consultation in the levels small, medium and large. Individual additions are possible; the programme grows with what each guest needs. You get what you need. Billing for the medical services runs through the private practice at the Tannerhof.

In this way, medical diagnostics fit into what the Tannerhof stands for: a house in which medicine and recovery are not separated but share the same rhythm. Mensch, werde wesentlich — become essential.