What to Expect at O’Fallon Crossing Chiropractic

We do get a lot of new patients in the office. When we do, I know sometimes it's tough for a patient to make that initial phone call to come in and see us. So, I wanted to talk a little bit this morning about what to expect when you do pick up that phone and make that initial phone call. I've had a lot of people who have been through a lot before they actually do make that call to come in and see me.

I've had some patients who have been to some type of pain management before they come and see me. Some have been through a lot of physical therapy, maybe even some surgery before they actually are willing to pick up the phone and call a chiropractor. They've gone through a lot to get to reach that point, and they may be in a lot of pain. So, not knowing what to expect can be a big issue. So, I wanted to come on this morning and just kind of give you an idea, and kind of break that ice a little bit, and share with you what it's like to have an initial appointment at O'Fallon Crossing Chiropractic.

When you do first make that call, the person that you will most likely talk to is Melinda. Melinda is my Office Manager, and she does a great job in our office. She's really good with knowing how things work, and answering the phone, and being polite and that sort of thing. Melinda also has a really strong passion, like I do, for helping people. She loves to see people feel better, get out of pain, and more importantly, stay healthy. That's really our big goal here at O'Fallon Crossing Chiropractic.

When you make that first call and you talk to Melinda, you'll be able to tell that she feels that way about people that are calling in. She wants to help that person on the other end of the phone line. So, she'll take your first initial phone call. She'll get you scheduled for an appointment typically either the same day, sometimes the next day, but as soon as possible and with something that fits your schedule.

When you do arrive for your first visit, there's a little bit of paperwork to fill out just like any doctors office. We try and keep that paperwork to a minimum, because I know no one likes any type of paperwork. What that paperwork does is gives us a lot of really good information. The goal of that first visit is to gather information, figure out what your problem is, where it's coming from, and really why you're having that condition that you're having. We'll have you fill out that paperwork, and then once you're through with that, Melinda will bring you back to our consultation room.

We try and make this a very comfortable room so it's a very comfortable conversation between you and myself. So, I'll come in and sit down and have that one-on-one consultation with you and really, like I said, try to gather a lot of information. So, we'll try to figure out how long the problem has been bothering you, what caused it, and just gather as much information I can, things about your past, your history, any accidents you've had and that sort of thing. That way I can get a full picture of you, and your health, and where you're at at this point in time.

Once we gather all that information, the next thing we would do is move to our exam room. In the exam room, I get to my put my hands on the patient and really start to find the problem through palpation, through range of motion, through different types of testing that we do to help pinpoint exactly where that patient's problem is coming from.

Once we get through the exam, the next thing we do if we need to is to take pictures of the person's spine. Now, we really like to get pictures on just about all of our patients. The reason we do that is, we don't want to do any guesswork at all. We like to know exactly what's going on with our patients and make sure we're treating the right areas at the right time with the right adjustments. We can't do that effectively without those pictures. So, we get the pictures that we need. Typically, that's the end of the first visit in the office.

At that point, I will give you some instructions. Typically if you're having some sort of painful condition, you'll want to use ice on that to help calm down the inflammation. Once you're gone, then it's time for me to sit down and do my homework. I sit down and I go over the pictures that we took. I do a full analysis of those so I can really, like I said, pinpoint where the problem areas are at. I start to come up with a plan for that particular patient. I put the findings from those pictures together with all of the information that I got during our consultation and from the exam.

Once I get all of that figured out, I put together a full report for my patient. Typically, that patient will come back in the next day. At that point, we will go over those pictures. I'll actually show those pictures to the patient, which a lot of patients tell me, "You know, Doctor Hadden, you're the first doctor to ever actually show me my pictures of my spine and explain what's actually going on." We think patient education is very important, and we take it seriously and we try to make sure our patients understand exactly what their problem is, where it's coming from, and why they're feeling like they're feeling.

So, once we get through that report, that's when we typically will do the first adjustment on our patients. That's when we actually get to do an adjustment and start the process of getting that patient out of pain and back to being healthy again. Through the years (I've been practicing for about 13 or 14 years now) and I've learned several different techniques and that allows me to tailor my treatments to each person individually.

Some people like more aggressive adjustments, and some people like a lighter adjustment. I have different techniques that I can do for each of those types of patients and still be very effective. So, that's what we go through for the first visit. Typically, we get a really good adjustment on that first visit.

At the end of that, that's when I have to explain to a patient that they might get some sore spots in their spine. After the first time you get adjusted, you're going to be moving differently than you have before so that can cause some pain or some sore spots that evening. So, that's a little bit about what to expect when you come into O'Fallon Crossing Chiropractic.

I thought that would be some good information to hopefully kind of break that ice for anyone that is thinking about making an appointment with me or a different chiropractic office. If you are looking to make that appointment, feel free to give us a call. Our phone number here is 636-272-7473, or you can always check us out on the internet at www.ofalloncrossingchiropractic.com.