Chiropractors are doctors that diagnose and treat disorders of the spine and musculoskeletal system. A chiropractic appointment consists of any combination of: manual manipulation of the joints, manipulation with an instrument, therapies to address any soft tissue abnormalities, and lifestyle modifications and recommendations that are intended to improve function and mobility.
Abnormal joint motion can occur as a result of a variety of causes. In some cases it arises as a result of injury, whether that be a traumatic injury or overuse type injury. In other cases, it arises from abnormal movement patterns or habits in our daily lives that cause our joints to function improperly.
The most commonly seen case of this is people who have shoulder and neck pain as a result of sitting at a desk working on a computer for their job. This repetitive, sub-optimal posture creates a number of problems: certain muscle groups become chronically tight, while others are weakened. When these muscles get over or under-used, they can create restrictions in the joints of the neck, upper back, and shoulders, resulting in a feeling of pain, tightness, and sometimes headaches for the person it affects.
Abnormal joint motion can also occur as a result of some acute injury to the low back like muscle strains. When this occurs, the affected muscle can become tight and inflamed, restricting motion in the surrounding area. This mechanism is partly a protective mechanism – your spine exists to protect your spinal cord, and when there is some stress on it, it's first priority is to tighten up to stop any further damage. While this is an important function, this can also cause pain dysfunction in the area.
A chiropractor's job is to find joints that are not moving as they should, assess the cause of that abnormal motion, diagnose the condition and treat it in a way that helps the body heal itself and improve function. Manipulation of the joints of the spine and extremities has been shown in multiple studies to be an effective method for management of back pain, especially when combined with exercises designed to restore function and strength in muscle groups that surround the affected area.
New Patient Chiropractic Appointment
Your first chiropractic appointment exists to establish your background information. You'll fill out some paperwork before the exam, then we'll go over the information you provided to ensure we don't miss anything in your health history that may be relevant to the complaint you have currently. After a thorough review of your health history, we'll take vitals and perform a physical exam focused on the area of your complaint. This may include but is not limited to muscle, sensory, and reflex testing, orthopedic tests, and functional exams to evaluate your joint and muscle mobility and strength. All of these tests combined with your history will inform how we proceed with treatment or referral to another provider.
Before any treatment or physical exams are performed, we will ask that you sign an informed consent form. We will discuss with you before treatment the expected risks and benefits of the treatment we recommend, and give you the opportunity to ask any questions you may have regarding what we plan to do. This is an important part of the process – you have the right at any time to decline treatment. Our recommendations are what we feel is best, but it is ultimately your right to decide how to proceed.
After we've completed the physical exam, we'll spend some time feeling the individual joints of your spine, and assessing how they move. This process is called palpation, and it's one of the most important tools chiropractors use to inform treatment. Palpation usually feels like light to moderate pressure, moving up and down your spine in varying directions. Through this, we challenge the range of motion of each joint, noting which ones are moving too much or too little.
Based on the findings of your exam, we may recommend beginning treatment that day. However, for some patients, we may recommend waiting on treatment until we have more time to review the findings of your exam and discuss with you the best course of action. This decision is different for every patient, and we're happy to discuss your options with you at any point during the treatment plan.
The treatment plan exists to give us a template for how we will move forward with treatment. Again, this is something that will differ significantly from one patient to another. For some conditions, we may recommend multiple treatments per week in the early stages of your complaint to best manage pain and restore function, while for others it may be much less frequent. These treatment plans can be changed at any point if we are making faster or slower progress than expected, and you are welcome to discuss that at any point with us.
Treatment plans include a number of different methods. Primarily we will focus on adjusting the joints of your spine, but we may also spend some time working on the musculature that supports and moves the spine to help relieve tension and improve mobility. We will also likely demonstrate and take you through some simple exercises that are designed to help the healing process. We'll show you and guide you through them on the first couple visits, and then have you do them at home to help progress care outside the office. A chiropractic appointment can vary significantly between patients and even from visit to visit. It all depends on your current status and goals for care.
As treatment progresses, our recommendations may change. In the beginning of an acute complaint, we may recommend rest and ice. As that transitions away from the acute phase into subacute or chronic, we may recommend heat and light exercise. It's different for every condition and every patient, so feel free to ask at any time what you can be doing at home to help move things along!
This first chiropractic appointment typically takes 30 minutes, but can be a bit more or less depending on the complexity of the case and patient needs. Follow-up chiropractic appointments are typically 15 minutes. Again, this can differ depending on the case and patient needs.
Our goal is always to be transparent and honest with patients. We want you to understand what we're doing and WHY we're doing it. We encourage you to ask questions about what we do. Patients who understand their condition generally improve faster, are more invested in their own care, and empower themselves with the tools to improve both in and out of our office. Your care functions best when it's a collaborative effort between you and your provider, and we love when patients are invested in getting results!