Your First Visit in Glencoe

One of the primary purposes for your first visit to Glencoe Family Chiropractic in Glencoe is to make sure that all your questions are answered.

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Consultation in Glencoe

Your first visit will begin with a consultation with one of our Doctors to discuss your health-related problems, concerns, and potential treatment options. This initial visit is designed to review your health history and assess whether you could benefit from chiropractic care. The Doctor will learn more about you, your condition, and your expectations to determine how chiropractic care can meet your health needs. Also, feel free to ask the doctor any questions you may have.

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Examination

If the doctor thinks that you will benefit from chiropractic care, they will proceed with a thorough examination, including heat variance, range of motion, point tenderness, etc. Neurological, orthopedic, postural, and physical tests may be performed as well. Naturally, as our Doctors are committed to providing excellent chiropractic care, nothing will be done in our office without your consent.

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X-Ray Studies

Depending on your specific condition, we may take X-rays as well. X-rays help us understand your condition more fully, develop the most effective treatment plan for you, and alert us of any serious spinal conditions. Most people are amazed once they see their X-rays up close. In some cases, patients can even identify misalignments and degeneration themselves.

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Report of Findings

After your first visit, our Doctors will spend ample time compiling the findings of your application for care, health history, examination, and spinal x-rays. After this thorough review of your case, they will present their findings to you on a second visit and make recommendations regarding further care. The Doctors will notify you if your condition requires care with other providers. Our Doctors are committed to providing the best treatment and wellness program for your needs.

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Treatment

As part of your second appointment, you can choose to experience your first treatment. Often, and especially when in pain dealing with an old injury, patients need help relaxing their stressed and tight muscles and soft tissues in order to receive proper chiropractic treatment. This process may include soft tissue work and/or preparatory rehabilitative physiotherapy (see N.B. below), both of which lead up to specific chiropractic spinal adjustments and the chiropractic correction of subluxations. Rehabilitation to this degree sometimes involves the use of specifically targeted muscle groups and/or repetitive movements designed to assist in your recovery. We may teach you stretches, movements, or strengthening exercises in the office and ask you to continue them on your own at home.

N.B.: Although not a licensed physical therapist in the State of Minnesota, Dr. Kramer earned his Certificate of Attainment for the completion of the Physiotherapy Examination of the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners in 2009. The same approach and method of mechanical diagnosis and therapy is used by many physical therapists around the world. In fact, many of the exact same diagnosis codes, therapeutic products, and billing codes are used by both chiropractors and physical therapists alike.

Regardless of your path, the more involved you are in your care, the better your outcome will be. This goes for patients recovering from pain or an injury as well as patients who simply want to live a healthier life. Treatment is interactive, so you can express your thoughts about the different styles of treatment anytime.

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Wellness Program

Prior to leaving, the doctor will suggest a wellness program to incorporate outside of treatment. If you are in pain when you first come into our office this may include ice or heat application instructions, certain activities or positions to avoid, and at-home exercises and/or stretches. If you desire, our wellness team will work with you also to create healthy habits and routines for your lifestyle. Every person is unique; therefore everyone requires a customized wellness plan. The purpose of our wellness program is for you to achieve good spinal alignment, have a healthy diet, exercise, and maintain a positive mental state.

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What About Insurance?

Our commitment will always be to your specific needs, not the needs or wants of your insurance carrier. We treat humans, not health plans. When, in our professional judgment, your needs require treatment we can assist you with, we will discuss the costs of your needed care with you openly with the objective being what is best for your health and your future well-being.

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Medical Care vs. Chiropractic Care

Each discipline employs many of the same methods. A doctor of Chiropractic identifies areas of malfunction through examination and, when necessary, through further diagnostic testing (such as imaging, blood work, referrals, etc.). When the diagnosis indicates that you will respond well to chiropractic care, a natural, drug-free, non-surgical treatment plan will be recommended, designed to restore healthy nerve, muscle, and bone function. While an MD may take a biochemical approach to your health – prescribing a drug therapy that often only treat symptoms and mask the underlying causes of malfunction – chiropractic care is a bio-mechanical art performing specific adjustments to normalize and align bony joints – which restores motion and eases pressure on nerves, muscles, and blood vessels, thus allowing your body’s innate, natural recuperative powers to restore health between the brain and the rest of the body.