Often the reason for booking a new patient examination and treatment with us is because you are suffering with some sort of pain. To get you out of pain we first need to know when is going on. Here are some tips to get the most out of your first session:
1. Arrive with plenty of time – Before we begin your first session with our chiropractor or physio there will be paperwork to fill out. The Most common reason for running out of time on the first session is that patients didn’t turn up earlier to fill this paperwork out. We always suggest arriving 15 minutes before your first session to allow ample time to fill the forms.
2. Be Honest – The most important part of your first session is finding out why you are in pain. With this answer we can then put together a plan to get rid of the pain. So we can expertly diagnose you pain, we do need as much information as possible. When filling out paperwork or answering questions during the examination DONT skip information that you think might not be relevant. That triple bypass surgery 10 years ago might actually be more relevant to your foot pain than you think. If you skip information we might not be able to get the full picture and this may hinder the diagnosis.
3. Arrive prepared – if you are coming in for treatment, wear something comfortable and appropriate. Loose clothing that you can easily move around in works best. We may need to uncover the body part in question too so also be prepared to remove a few layers. We have freshly laundered gowns here but some patient prefer to bring their own shorts or tops to change into. Always let us know if there is anything we can do to make you feel more comfortable.
4. Google isn’t a Chiropractor or Physiotherapist – we love that our patients want to research about their health, but, if you’ve diagnosed yourself using Google, don’t expect us to agree with you. Patients will often focus on the worst results possible like ‘Sciatica’ and ‘Disc Bulge’ when in reality the more likely cause of your back pain is a less serious sprain or strain. Remember Google only knows half the story. It doesn’t know what our hands on assessment will tell us.
5. Do your homework – Often during the first session we will give out exercises or activities for patients to do before they come back to see us. We appreciate that life can get busy, but 5-10 minutes out of your day is not a big sacrifice to get you out of pain quicker. Most patients that improve slower than expected are because they didn’t do the home exercises.
If you are suffering from pain and would like our extremely friendly Chiropractor or Physiotherapist to help you then please give us a call on 0161 707 1116
