New Patients Welcome At Our Charlotte Office
Upon entering the clinic you can expect to be greeted by warm, friendly and compassionate staff ready to help. You will be walked through the initial paper work and if needed you will be assisted along the way.
Once the paper work is completed you will be greeted by the doctor and taken back to the examination room. Many people don’t realize it but chiropractors are doctors because they diagnose and treat patient’s conditions related to the musculoskeletal and neurological systems; not to mention they go to school for 7 years.
The diagnosis of conditions starts with a quality intake form filled out by the patient, reviewed by the doctor then discussed between the doctor and patient. The intake form should include information about the patient’s history of past problems; for example illnesses, injuries, surgeries, accidents and hospitalizations.
The next phase of properly diagnosing a patient’s problem consists of discussing the signs and symptoms they are having and how it may be affecting this person’s daily life activities. Once a good understanding of what this person is going through has been established, the exam may begin.
A good physical exam starts with a patient’s vital signs (height, weight, and blood pressure). The chiropractic portion of the physical exam is hands on. A chiropractor needs to check the joints by a process called palpation to see if they are moving properly, check the positioning, spinal curvature and check to see if there is any tenderness.
Our office utilizes a computerized system to assist in the palpation process; the state of the art computer provides us with a consistent, accurate and comfortable means to achieve this. A chiropractor also needs to check the muscles to assess for symmetry, how tight they are (hypertonicity), if there is muscle weakness and if the muscle is tender to the touch.
A good chiropractor will want to establish the person’s range of motion and determine if it is diminished in the area of concern. Chiropractors check patient’s nerve function in three ways; skin sensations along nerve pathways, reflexes corresponding to specific nerves and muscle strength, again corresponding to the nerve that innervates the muscle. Chiropractors utilize the same tests that orthopedic doctors use to determine the nature of a problem. X-rays may be performed if necessary after the initial paper work, consultation and exam have been completed.
Treatment may be administered if appropriate on the first day. The treatment is tailored to the patients needs at that time. Treatment takes approximately 15-20 minutes and is pain free. At the conclusion of that days treatment you will instructed on what you can do at home and scheduled for a follow up report of findings.