Spanish: Indirect object instead of possessive pronoun?

Official Memrise Courses Spanish (Spain)
1

Hello everyone :slight_smile:

I’m working very hard to finally learn Spanish and there is currently one thing I’m quite confused about. I’m hoping someone well versed in Spanish can help explain this.

I’ve seen a lot phrases come up where in Spanish they use an indirect object (weak) pronoun instead of a possessive pronoun.

Example:

"Tengo que examinarle el pecho" (polite ‘le’ indirect object pronoun is used)

My instinct would be to say “Tengo que examinar tu pecho” instead.

So is this a consistent thing? Can you just slap an indirect object in there instead of a possessive pronoun to give the same meaning?