What to Expect When Expecting Chiropractic Care

When you have to see a chiropractor for accident victims, then chances are you have been in a vehicle accident or had some sort of personal injury. A chiropractor for accident victims is similar very similar to any other kind of healthcare provider. Having said that, there are some differences. The office and the intake procedures will be pretty familiar to you but the treatment table itself may look very different, even intimidating if you haven’t seen one before. The tables have to be pretty elaborate because they need to be positioned very specifically for various movements and positions, particularly during spinal adjustments.

A typical visit to a chiropractic care clinic will include the initial intake, of course, as well as a physical exam, the treatment itself and then a follow up plan which will tell the patient what to implement at home and what further treatment will be.

The Initial Intake
The first consultation before any chiropractor services take place is a pretty standard medical intake. You will have to fill out a survey that will includes questions regarding your medical history. You may have to answer questions about your family’s health history as well. The questionnaire might include the outline of a body and will ask you to circle the areas where you are experiencing any kind of discomfort.

The Physical Exam
This is when the chiropractor will start with a routine physical exam which may include various x-rays. Once this is complete, chiropractors usually like to focus on the spinal area and pay particular attention to the areas where you indicated that you are having extreme pain. The whole spine is usually examined even if the pain is only in one area. The reason for this is that you have low back pain, for example, if left untreated, then the adaptations that came from the initial injury could have traveled to secondary areas that are somewhere else in the spine. The physical will usually include all kind of assessments which will vary depending on your injury. They could be anything from motion tests to palpation, testing of your reflexes, muscle comparisons, neurological tests, orthopedic tests and more.

The Treatment Plan
Your treatment plan will usually take several things into consideration. The first thing will be the extent of your injury as well as your overall health. The condition of your spine will be affected by age and any previous injuries, so that will be looked at as well. Your goals will be included in the plan and will be one of the most important parts. A chiropractor for accident victims will always go over the goals with the patient before including in the treatment plan. This could be anything from just wanting to be back where you were before the accident or simply wanting pain relief or you might want to take the opportunity to improve your overall health.

The Treatment
The treatment itself will be where the adjustments come into play. They are the central part of the whole chiropractic treatment. Basically, they are therapeutic manipulation techniques that are used to control direction, leverage, force, amplitude and velocity at the various areas and joints of the body. It is so much more than just opening up the joint and should never be attempted by someone who has not undergone the proper training.

A chiropractor for accident victims will work adjustments mainly to the spine but may work on other joints like the ankles, wrists, elbows, knees or shoulders in they need to restore alignment or improve any joint function. In order to have proper function, you need proper structure.

The length of the treatment depends on how quickly your pain is diminishing. If you have not seen a difference after the first few treatments, you may need to increase your frequency. In any case, you should be able to cut back after a few weeks of successful treatment.

If you find that you can’t tolerate the feeling of the manual adjustments, you can request mild or non force techniques which are much more bearable.

Adjustments can also be done in conjunction with other therapies like electric stimulation or the use of heat or ice, shoe supports, change in diet and other lifestyle factors among other things.