What To Expect At A Top Chiro Initial Consultation
If you’ve been thinking about seeing a chiropractor for a while but you’re just not ready to take that first step towards your health, knowing a bit more about how we work might help you make a decision.
First Things First - We DO NOT Adjust On The First Visit
There is a very simple reason for not adjusting during the initial consultation. Before going ahead and working on you we need to study your case, and to do this properly it takes time.
I’m sure you already know that we all have different bodies, but the general structure is the same for everyone. Just to give you an example, the other day we took an x-ray image on a client’s initial consultation and half of their first vertebra (C1) never formed. We would never want to go in there blind-sighted. As I once heard my colleague Dr Alex say: adjusting without analysing the situation properly would be like going to a dentist who takes two seconds to look at your teeth and says “mhhhh why don’t we just try pulling this molar out!” – I’m sure you wouldn’t be exactly happy about that!
So What Do We Do In The Initial Consultation?
Generally we will spend 1 hour looking into the following things:
History
Once we’ve had a look at the form that you will have filled in at home before coming to see us, we will run through whatever problem is bothering you the most as well as speaking about the rest of you spinal and general health. This will give us a basic understanding of what the potential problems might be.
You might also be coming in simply for preventative care, to keep your nervous system healthy, in this case we would go through whatever past medical history you have which will give us clues as to the weak spots of your nervous system.
Orthopaedic and Neurological Examination
We will spend 20 minutes or so looking through specific tests to understand how your joints and nervous system are working. As we are nervous system specialists we will check the full function of the latter, head to toe, as we want to make sure that it is all healthy and we don’t miss anything out.
INSiGHT CLA Scanning
This is one of the most interesting parts of the examination: We have this year made an investment in using some really advanced technology from the US that allows us to measure the function of you nervous system. This is obtained through three scans:
- HRV (heart rate variability) – in summary it shows how your body copes with stress.
- Spinal thermography – finds areas where the nerves are not communicating correctly with the different organs and systems of the body.
- Paraspinal EMG (electromyography) – looks at how much control your nervous system has over the postural muscles.
X-Ray Imaging: We have onsite x-ray imaging facilities which allow us to take any images needed on the initial consultation if deemed necessary after full examination.
This is what we do during this first visit, so hopefully reading this might decrease any overwhelming feelings if you have been considering coming in. There is no commitment taken on this examination, it is for us to understand if we can help you or not.
We will then discuss all of the findings on our second appointment which will be booked closely to the initial one, during which we will give you a report and we will explain what the best care-plan is for yourself. If you wish to start, the majority of the time we will be able to commence on that same day.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What do I wear?
Wear something comfortable if possible, if we were to take x-ray images we would ask you to remove any metal artefacts such as earrings, necklaces and piercings. This includes any metal on any clothing so you might want to choose your clothing attire accordingly. We do provide gowns when there is the need of removing clothing.
Will it be painful?
It should not be any more painful than what you have already been experiencing. We might need to elicit pain in some cases in order to locate the exact area of an injury but this will always be done cautiously and listening to your complaints. We will never push it over the limit.
So what is the problem?
Many of you will want to know what is going on straight away, we will most likely be able to give you a general idea of what is going on, however before going into specifics we prefer taking our time to study your case so not to give you any false information. We will be able to go through everything in detail during the report.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate contacting the clinic on the number listed on this website or you can book an initial consultation online here.
Hope that helps and hope to see you soon,
Ciao for now :)
Sarah
Learn More About Chiropractic!
Neck Pain - here
Low Back Pain Recovery - here
Dizziness – here
Whiplash and Whiplash-Associated Disorder (WAD) - here
Lumbar Spine and Sciatica - here
Upper Cervical Misalignment and Malformations - here
Sports Injuries - here
Arthritis - here
Trigeminal Neuralgia - here
Lumbar Instability - here
Spinal Surgery - here
Stress Management - here
Sleep Issues - here
Hypermobility - here
Pregnancy - here
Chiropractic Care for Babies - here
Menstrual Cycle - here
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) - here
Hypothyroidism - here
Hyperthyroidism - here
Diet Guidance - here
Vitamin C - here
Referred Pain - here
Poor Posture - here
Dowager's Hump - here
Concussions - here
