If you've decided that chiropractic care could be the answer to solving your health issue, it's important to make sure that whichever chiropractor you choose will take the time to evaluate your condition and help you get the best results possible.
Start With A Consultation
During the consultation, we spend time learning about your health history and looking for ways we can help. While you may have come in with low back pain, we may learn that you've also experience regular headaches that may be coming from your vertebrae in your neck. We find that many patients have other conditions we can help, but they didn't know chiropractic could do anything about it so they don't bring it up.
We also listen for things you may be doing in your daily activities that may be contributing to your problem. Learning about your daily activities gives us an idea of where to look when we do your examination. A patient that sits at a computer all day and then does Crossfit 3 times per week will have a different set of problems compared to someone with a long commute that doesn't stretch and gardens on the weekend. Learning more about you, your daily activities and what you do that may be helping or hurting your problem helps us determine how much chiropractic care is needed and the home care recommendations you will receive.
The Examination
The examination includes checking your posture and the range of motion of your spine. We will have you move your neck and lower back through all of the ranges of motion and look for areas that are diminished or restricted. We feel along your spine, looking for areas of inflammation, spasm, swelling, stiffness, areas of imbalance, and restricted movement.
Next, we will check go through orthopedic tests that are designed to test and challenge spinal joints. These simple but revealing tests let us know where your pain may be coming from. Learning how severe a problem is and the specific spinal joint will help us determine if chiropractic care can help you or if you need to see a different type of healthcare provider. We will make any necessary referrals if we determine your care would be better served with a treatment other than what we have available.
Finally, we perform neurological tests that will help us look for areas of weakness or imbalance. If you're already experiencing neurological symptoms such as numbness, weakness, tingling, or paresthesia, these tests will give us an idea as to the severity of your problem. From your examination findings, we will determine which areas of your spine we need to evaluate by x-ray.
Spinal X-Rays
Checking your spine with x-ray examination is a critical aspect of how we can personalize your chiropractic care. Not only do we evaluate your x-rays for any signs of disease or pathology, we are also looking for any areas of your spine that we will cause us to modify the adjustment technique for your condition.
Then we take measurements throughout your entire spine that directs us to the areas that need to be adjusted specifically. We will know which area is the problem and the direction to adjust. This helps for when we take additional x-rays later in your treatment plan and can show you the changes. Without establishing a baseline and knowing the areas in which to focus, the follow up x-rays wouldn't be able to tell you how much you've improved. We expect your symptoms to show improvement in a short time, but making lasting changes takes time.
Plan of Action
Your plan of action is reviewed at your Report of Findings visit. While we may adjust you on your first visit, we will still review your x-rays with you and go over our recommendations with you on your follow up visit. Your care plan may include specific chiropractic adjustments, electrical stimulation, mechanical traction, spinal decompression therapy, stretching, and exercises.
How many visits we recommend and the type of treatment will be directly related to what we've learned during your consultation, examination, and x-rays. We will give you options. You can do all of the treatment we recommend at the pace we recommend, or we can tailor the plan to what you are interested in doing. It's your health and your spine, but we will always give you our best recommendation.
It's Not Enough to Just "Get Adjusted." Get Personalized Chiropractic Care
Let CORE Chiropractic help you get back on track with personalized chiropractic care, stretching recommendations and a custom treatment plan. Call today for your consultation, or schedule an appointment online.