Your First Visit

Prior

What we ask

Upon making your first appointment our specially trained Chiropractic Assistants (receptionists) will ask you a few very important questions regarding your condition and the reason for you making an appointment. Knowing about your condition and its severity helps us guide you to the best Chiropractor for your needs.

What to bring

If you have any spinal x-rays or scans (even if they are old) they may be useful to help create the big picture, so bring them along.

What to do

Our specially trained Chiropractic Assistants will ask you about your current pain management. They may give you advice after consulting with your Chiropractor on any changes you need to take before the first consultation. Pain management (like Panadol) could be masking the symptoms and not addressing the cause of the problem. Pain killers can severely alter symptoms such as pain findings and localised swelling, which are important factors in determining treatment.

During

Arrival

You will be given an arrival time which includes the required time to fill in the appropriate paper work. Our friendly Chiropractic Assistants will greet you and kindly explain the New Patient Admission process. We ask a lot of questions on the form. This is because we not only want to know about your primary complaint, but also about other issues you may have that may relate to the spine. Traumas, accidents, and injuries are all things that we need to know about as they can often be the cause of your spinal problems even years before you get the symptoms you are having today.

Resting

It is ideal that you rest and relax in the waiting room while waiting for your appointment. This is to help calm and settle the muscles around your spine and pelvis, and bring your body to room temperature. Resting these muscles helps you relax for your spinal adjustment when it is time for your appointment. So sit back, relax, read a magazine, or have a glass of filtered water.

Meet Your Chiropractor/Therapist

Your treating professional will greet you in our reception area and take you through to their treatment room. Our Chiropractors use the Gonstead Chiropractic method where accuracy and precision are of the upmost importance. Our therapists are also trained to find the root of your problem. Your practitioner will be sure to put you at ease!

History

Your practitioner will ask you further questions in relation to your pain/problems. The better we can understand your presentation, the better we will know where the cause is coming from. Tell your practitioner everything about your condition, even if you think it is a small, insignificant comment. A significant portion of your diagnosis comes from a detailed case history.

Examination

Your practitioner will then do a series of examinations, or checks, of your spine and skeletal system. Checking the spine without the interference of clothing is the best way to get all the required information – we use examination gowns where necessary. Your examination can include checking the spinal segment temperature, looking for swelling, individual movement of vertebral segments, muscle tests, through to relevant orthopaedic and neurological assessments.

X-rays

Your Chiropractor will decide if your case requires a weight bearing spinal x-ray. These are performed straight way on site using our digital x-ray facility. This immediate assessment can be done during your first appointment, saving you time and trouble. X-rays are taken for many reasons:

• Disease – We look for any evidence of severe illness or pathology that may need medical treatment and referral (some serious illness can refer as back pain).
• Trauma – Looking for any evidence of trauma, sometimes trauma you may have forgotten to mention.
• Presence of wear and tear – This helps with the big picture in understanding how long your problem has been hiding for and how it is affecting the rest of your spine.
• Spinal Misalignments – Evidence of poorly aligned vertebra can be observed by x-ray. We can use this information to help create a plan of where to start and how to specifically address your spines needs.

Results

Once your Chiropractor has determined you require Chiropractic treatment, they will explain to you the problem and the process involved to achieve the best results. You will receive a very accurate, calculated, specifically delivered correction (spinal adjustment) to your problem area. This is surprisingly painless and only takes a split second. Most new patients are pleasantly surprised and comment “was that it?”. We take the time to figure out the one vertebra that is causing your problem, so there is much less of the “cracking” noise than you would expect. Your Chiropractor may then give you some simple exercises to perform after your adjustment. This might be as straightforward as going for a 10-minute walk after your adjustment.

Patients may be unclear whether they require Chiropractic to address their problem or not. Generally speaking, we believe having a structural assessment first with your Chiropractor is a great place to start. The Chiropractor’s role is to assess whether a structural fault is underpinning the injury.

Our highly trained therapists will recommend Chiropractic assessment if they feel it is necessary.

After

Instructions

Your practitioner will give you some simple instructions to follow after your visit. It is important to follow these recommendations. You will most likely need a follow up appointment, so your practitioner will instruct you if and when you need to come back.

Response

You are likely to feel some improvement after your first adjustment. Taking the pressure of the nerve for the first time can give you tremendous relief. But you may also experience some extra swelling or feel a little “adjustment soreness” after your first visit. This will settle down over the first two days, especially if you follow the ice application advice.

Each visit will build on the last. You will continue to improve after each adjustment and you will be back to optimal health in no time.

We operate by the motto “Find it, Correct it, and Leave it Alone”. This means we take pride in our work and aim to have you back to normal as quickly as possible. We anticipate a positive response to treatment over the first few visits, giving the practitioner a good indication of how long the process may take.
Similarly, massage patients usually experience a positive response after the first treatment. Your therapist will advise you on home care between visits, and when to schedule your next massage if required.