Saturday, March 20, 2010

Have you ever been to a chiropractor?

Have you been to a chiropractor lately?  Have you ever been to a chiropractor?
Regardless of your answer to these questions, do you know what a chiropractor does?

I have been a practicing chiropractor for the last 16 years.  Helping people with neck pain, back pain, sciatica and headaches with chiropractic care is rewarding.  As  a profession, chiropractors only provide care to somewhere around 10% of our population.  I have always wondered why this number is so low since patient satisfaction with chiropractic treatment is so much higher than it is with traditional medical care and that most independent research indicates that chiropractic care is more effective than western medicine for back pain. 

Chiropractic care is an excellent , conservative treatment for many types of back injuries including those caused by auto accidents and various work injuries.  That being the case, I have always thought that more people don’t seek out chiropractic care for their back and neck injuries because they don’t know what to expect with a chiropractic visit.

In this post, I am going to tell you exactly what procedures that our new patients go through at the time of their first visit. 

Once a new patient comes to our office they are asked to fill out a brief informational health history that covers both past and current problems.  After they are done with this form, I review the history to acquaint myself with current and past complaints that are relevant to the reason for the appointment.

With the history form reviewed, I take the patient to one of my exam / treatment rooms where I ask the patient to tell me more about their pain.  During this time I also ask additional questions to help me get a good understanding of the patients’ concerns. 

After I am satisfied with my understanding of the patients’ concerns and they have nothing else to add to the history, I perform an examination on the involved areas that includes range of motion tests, necessary orthopedic tests and neurological tests.  Usually the information that I obtain from these tests is sufficient to allow me to make a decision regarding treatment.

If treatment is indicated, care usually involves therapy to relax the muscles followed by chiropractic adjustments to relieve the pain / dysfunction of the involved joints.  Since many of our new patients have never been to a chiropractor before, I always ask the patients to help me keep all of our procedures within their “comfort zone”.  I have always thought that this is very important since so many Americans are unfamiliar with manual type therapies.

The number of chiropractic visits varies person to person depending on the severity of the injury and each persons response to care.        


Writers Bio

Dr. Steven R. Jones is a licensed Chiropractor in the state of California. He received his doctorate from Palmer College of Chiropractic-West in Sunnyvale, California. Dr. Jones has treated his patients for over 15 years at his own San Diego Chiropractic practice.

Dr. Jones is accepting new patients and would be happy to consult with you regarding your chiropractic needs.

Call Steve Jones at

(619) 280 0554

San Diego Chiropractic


Ergonomic Office Equipment Website to learn more about or Buy Ergo Nav, the Ergonomic Mouse Pad
or Visit Ergonomic Blog, "Ergonomically Yours" And read the latest News in the Ergonomic World.

Better Health Steve Jones