First Consultation
What Happens On My First Consultation?
If you’ve not visited Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic before, it may be useful to know what happens on your first appointment…
Paperwork
When you visit us for the first time you will be asked to fill in some paperwork giving us a general understanding of your medical background. When you visit your GP, they have your full history from the day you were born, whereas we have none of this information. Sometimes events in your past may be relevant to the problem you are seeking our help with. Any history of spinal surgery is an obvious example but there are also less obvious links. Psoriasis for example, is a reasonably well known skin disorder, however there is a strong link between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, which targets certain joints of the spine and body. For this and many other reasons your past medical history can be extremely helpful to us in diagnosing your problem properly and subsequently influence the type of treatment we use to treat your condition. Again it may also influence whether we decide to take x-rays of you before treating you should any concerns arise to us. Our philosophy is ‘get people better, but be safe first’. This can only be done if the problem is properly understood and all factors that may be contributory are ascertained.
You will then be brought through to your own private changing room, adjacent to the consultation and treatment rooms. From here you will be called through to your appointment with your chiropractor when ready.
History
At Milton Keynes Chiropractic Clinic the first thing your chiropractor will do is take a full detailed history of the condition ailing you. We listen to you and ask questions that enable us to fully understand your problem. This helps us to build up a thorough understanding of not only what the problem may be, but also to identify any factors that may contribute to the problem.
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”
Examination
Patient comfort is taken into account at all times and will be reflected in your examination. Postural assessment, Chiropractic assessment, Orthopaedic Assessment and Neurological assessment are undertaken in almost all cases. This enables your presenting problem to be evaluated in many ways. This not only assists us with making the diagnosis but also to establish a treatment program that will best apply to your individual problem. In some cases other examination procedures may be undertaken as well, blood pressure, pulse, abdominal examination etc. Everybody is different and so are their problems, this is all contributory in determining what examination procedures need to be undertaken and to what extent.
After examination there are normally 3 ways to progress:
Explanation & Treatment
If the history taking and examination give us suitable information to diagnose your problem without the need for X-Ray evaluation, then we will give you a diagnosis and full explanation of the problem, advise a suitable treatment approach and again answer any questions you may have. Treatment will begin on the first appointment as will advise as to what you should and shouldn’t do between appointments as this can assist with a speedier recovery, which can likewise result in less treatments required to achieve the objective.
PLEASE NOTE: If we treat you on the first appointment there is no extra charge for the treatment. This is also covered in your first consultation fee.
Onward Referral
On rare occasions, a patient may present with a condition or problem that we either may not be of help with or require further investigations. If this is the case, depending upon the problem or any concerns we may have, we will either contact your GP or refer you on to the relevant specialist that can be of assistance.
PLEASE NOTE: We will only contact your GP if we have your permission.
MRI or X-Ray Imaging
If the outcome of the examination indicates that X-Ray or MRI evaluation be the next logical step in fully diagnosing your problem, then we will be able to refer you directly privately for imaging. A private imaging consultation can usually be organised, performed and the report returned to us within a working week. There are numerous providers that we can refer you to directly; likewise; we can write to your GP and request they consider referring you for such imaging on the NHS if you would prefer. On your second appointment with us your X-ray or MRI results will be discussed and you will be talked through them as most of our chiropractors are trained in taking X-rays and all of them are trained to read X-rays and MRI’s as part of their Chiropractic degree education. The relevance of the imaging findings as well as your examination findings will be fully explained as will the treatment program and any other pertinent advice that is relevant to your individual situation. We always encourage you to ask any questions and will answer them fully. We have found that the more a patient understands the problem and how it is going to be treated, the more they can relax and not worry. After all its your problem not someone else’s, you have a right to know what it is. Treatment will then begin.
