What to expect on initial visit.
The purpose of the initial visit is for the doctor and patient to get familiar with each other and to answer primarily 3 questions.
These questions include; can chiropractic care, or the additional services in this office help with the condition that the patient is presenting with. If yes, we proceed with a course of care, if not, we make a referral to the appropriate health care provider who might be able to help. Secondly, we want to diagnose the condition as accurately as possible so that we know what we are dealing with. And third, we want to get an understanding of what the patient is looking for regarding care in this office.
Patients come to the chiropractor for many reasons; we want to find out these reasons as early as possible, so that we can devise a treatment plan that works according to the goals and desired level of care of the patient.
In order to answer these 3 questions, the doctor will perform a very detailed history followed by a physical examination including chiropractic, orthopedic and neurological examination techniques.
Once the physical examination is performed, the patient may or may not receive treatment on the initial visit depending on the individual circumstances.