What to Expect

Laying the foundation

Chiropractic care is like building a house – certain things have to happen in a particular order in order for everything to stand strong and work correctly. When building a house, if you tried to put up your walls before you had a solid foundation, your walls would be weak and eventually collapse. If you tried to put on your roof before the walls were ready, you would run into the same problem. The same is true for your body. Your body has to go through a particular plan of care in order to repair itself correctly and fully. There are four general phases to our version of medical and chiropractic diagnosis, treatment and care . . .

Phase 1: Relief Care

If you are in pain when you come into our office, the first objective is to help you feel better. Depending on the severity of your problem, it is typical to need care 2-3 times per week for 4-12 weeks.

Phase 2: Thorough Diagnosis to determine extent of injury and establish treatment plan

While we treat you for your immediate discomfort, our team of medical and chiropractic physicians work together to accurately determine what the nature of the underlying injury is, to what extent you are impaired by that injury and what is the best plan to treat your injury both in the short and long term.  All diagnostic and treatment plans utilize the latest medical diagnostic imaging techniques which enables us to determine with great accuracy just exactly what the nature of your injury is.  Many times, while looking for one class of injury we may find that a previous injury has been aggravated and sometimes we even find the unexpected - which is to say that while looking, for example, at an MRI of your cervical spine, we may encounter evidence of other disease or injury that we weren't initially looking to find that may be related to your accident.  We are extremely thorough in our diagnostic approach utilizing the best from both the Medical and Chiropractic models.  It has been our experience that this approach gives us and you the best results.  We are also mindful that you may have an underlying legal claim for damages caused by your injury.  In this regard, our team of expert diagnosticians, including an in-house neurologist, a plastic surgeon and a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon, is able to make a complete and accurate diagnosis and develop an appropriate treatment plan.  We leave no diagnostic stone unturned and work closely with your attorney so that your injury is well documented should your case end up in Court.

Phase 3: Working Together With Your Lawyer

Our first priority is your wellness and to relieve your pain while accurately determining what is the nature and cause of your injury.  In performing this function, we understand that many of our patients may have an underlying legal claim which their attorney may be processing for litigation in Court.  In this sense, we are well prepared to work with your attorney and his or her staff.  Our office has a special section dedicated to establishing a seamless integration between your attorney's office and our diagnostic and treatment facility.  This is extremely important for your legal case.  If you have been injured due to someone's negligence or malicious conduct, your attorney will need an accurate diagnostic basis in order to make the tort claim against the wrongdoer.  Your attorney knows that we are thorough in our examinations and frequently utilize cutting edge radiologic scans to determine the nature and extent of your injury.  Once that has been done, it is your lawyer's job to connect our diagnosis and findings about the extent of your injury and disability, if any, to the wrongful behavior of the person or entity which caused your injury.  That's why it is so important to be treated by a facility that is prepared to work seamlessly with your attorney, as we are.  In fact, we have a dedicated paralegal whose sole job is to work with your lawyer and to make sure that he or she has what is needed to process your case effectively and efficiently.  Our diagnostic work is fact based.  We do not invent injuries - we discover them if they exist.  We connect the dots and find the truth where other diagnostic and treatment facilities completely drop the ball and fail in this most import phase of your legal case.  If you are injured as a result of someone else's negligence, we will find the nature and extent of your injury and we will treat you for the pain and discomfort.  That is our specialty and our expertise.

Phase 4: Corrective/Restorative Care

During the corrective care phase, muscles and other tissues are allowed to heal more completely, thereby helping prevent injury. It is typical to need care 4-8 times per month for 6-24 months, depending on your overall health and the severity of your problem.

Phase 5: Wellness Care

Once your body has fully healed, it is important to come in for periodic adjustments to avoid problems in the future. Usually, this only requires a quick visit to the chiropractor 1-4 times per month, based on your lifestyle, wellness and fitness goals.