What to Expect on Your Initial Visit to a Chiropractor

The chiropractic adjustment, often known as spinal manipulation, is a well-known and widely used pain management technique for a variety of lower back, sciatica, and neck pain conditions.

This article explains what patients can expect during their first chiropractic consultation, this includes:

✓ A comprehensive chiropractic examination.

✓ This may involve initiating chiropractic therapy.

✓ Lasts about 45 minutes or longer.

Following the first consultation, chiropractic follow-up visits are often considerably shorter

Your Initial Chiropractic Consultation

This first consultation involves a clinical examination conducted in-office which typically consists of the following three components:

1)  Patient's Medical History and Present Symptoms

Prior to the chiropractic appointment, you will be requested to complete paperwork detailing your symptoms and current condition. Typical inquiries include the following: 

a) When and how did the discomfort begin?

b) Where is the discomfort felt?

c) Describe the kind of pain you are experiencing—is it acute, dull, searing/burning, or throbbing? 

d) Is it intermittent or continuous?

e) Was the discomfort triggered by an injury?

f) What activities/circumstances contribute to its improvement or deterioration?

Patients are often requested for information about their family's medical history, any pre-existing medical problems, or past injuries, as well as previous and current treatments received from other health experts.

2)  The Chiropractic Examination

A comprehensive chiropractic examination includes performing general tests such as blood pressure, pulse, breathing, and reflexes.  

Additionally, any specific orthopedic and/or neurological tests may be performed to evaluate the following:

a) Range of motion of the bodily component in question(s)

b) Tone of muscle

c) Muscle strength

d) Intact neurological system

e) Additional chiropractic tests, such as having the patient walk in a particular way, doing a posture analysis, or assessing the afflicted body part's mobility, may be required to evaluate the affected region.

3) Diagnostic Examinations

Diagnostic tests may be beneficial in exposing pathologies and detecting structural anomalies in order to more correctly diagnose a disease based on the findings of the patient's history and chiropractic examination. While x-rays are the most often utilized diagnostic studies during an initial chiropractic assessment, they are not always necessary. Generally, an x-ray is utilized in a chiropractic environment to assist with the following:

a) Recognize a recent traumatic event.

b) Determine the presence of spondylosis.

c) Investigate a spine abnormality that has the potential to develop, such as scoliosis.

A chiropractor should only order an x-ray scan if he or she has cause to think it will offer information necessary to guide the patient's treatment regimen. Due to the dangers involved with ionizing radiation exposure during an x-ray, its usage should be restricted to medically essential situations.

While an x-ray may be used to see the bones, it is ineffective for examining soft tissues. When soft tissue injury, such as a bulging disc, torn muscle, or nerve compression, is suspected, an MRI scan is often suggested.

While many chiropractic offices are equipped to conduct basic x-rays, MRI scans and other more comprehensive imaging tests are often sent to a separate facility.

Typically, the chiropractor's findings from your history, physical examination, and diagnostic testing assist the doctorin arriving to a particular diagnosis. Once a diagnosis is confirmed, the chiropractor can evaluate if the illness will respond to chiropractic therapy. Certain diseases, including as fractures, tumors, or infections, may not respond to chiropractic care and will usually need the treatment of a specialized physician.

At the conclusion of the first appointment, the chiropractor will convey the following to the patient:

a) Diagnosed your condition or ailment

b) Introduce a chiropractic treatment plan that is unique to you (or other treatments)

c) Estimated duration of chiropractic treatments

Some chiropractors may also give the patient handouts and website information so they can consider treatment or other therapies to do their own research at home.