First Visit

All care begins with an initial examination.  This first visit is comprised of various parts, each of which is described below.  The purpose of this first visit is to construct a picture of your overall health, which will allow us as practitioners to best diagnose and treat your specific problem.  Please allow yourself an hour for this first meeting.  We also ask that you dress comfortably for the examination; comfortable shoes along with shorts and tank-tops/T-shirts are ideal.

Note: Please bring a copy of any past CTs, MRIs or X-rays.

 

Initial Paperwork

Our initial visit begins with you filling out some necessary paperwork.  These initial forms provide us with essential information about you, your condition, and your health history.  It is very important we find out as much as possible about any past accidents, medications, surgeries, previous treatments, and any details regarding your family health history.  These forms can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.  Please bring the completed forms below to your scheduled appointment.  If you are unable to complete this process prior to your appointment, we ask that you arrive to your first visit at least 15 minutes early, in order to allow ample time for this process.

**please place link for initial paperwork her as well**

 

Consultation

During the consultation, we will sit down and discuss with you details regarding the following:

    • Onset and description of symptoms
    • Aggravating and alleviating factors
    • Intensity of discomfort
    • Personal and family medical history
    • Major and minor illnesses you have experienced in the past
    • Surgeries or operations you have endured
    • Medications you might be (or might have been) taking
    • Your diet and exercise
    • Your work and leisure activities
    • Your sleeping habits (position, length of time per night etc.)

Based on this discussion, your health care provider will have an opportunity to better understand your problem.  This information also provides us with some direction for the examination aspect of the visit.  Following the consultation, if we believe that your problem falls outside our field of expertise, a referral will be made at this time to a more appropriate health care provider.

 

Examination

There are four main goals to the examination.  They are as follows.

Rule out any serious disease/pathology

Although the large majority of pain-generating conditions do not fall within this category, serious conditions such as cancer, infection and fracture make up approximately 3% of the underlying causes.  These serious conditions must first and foremost be ruled out as the cause of your symptoms before moving on to the remainder of the examination.  Often, a series of specific questions and examination procedures are sufficient to rule these out.

Identify which area of the body is causing your pain and discomfort

Various movements, palpation (touch), and other relevant testing procedures are used to determine which part of your body is responsible for generating the discomfort you are experiencing.  These “symptoms” are usually a result of multiple pain generating structures and/or tissues, and often times the site of the actual pain is quite distant to the area responsible for its cause.

Identify WHY the structure and/or tissue causing your discomfort was strained and eliminate these perpetuating factors

There are often multiple causes for a single condition.  It could be related to a repetitive motion, the way you sit or sleep, a certain movement that placed excessive strain on a tissue or joint, or a number of other factors.  Our most important job as health practitioners is identifying exactly what led to your condition, so that we can minimize the chance of recurrence once your problem has been resolved.

Some of the tests we may perform include:

  • Gait Analysis (analyzing the way your walk or run)
  • A test of your muscle strength, flexibility, reflexes and coordination
  • Posture Analysis
  • Orthopaedic testing
  • Movement Analysis (specific to your sport or occupation)

 

Report of Findings

Following the completion of the consultation and examination, and once we feel confident that we have a solution to your problem, we will do our best to communicate this to you in a clear and concise manner.  This is an excellent time to ask questions, and to be sure that you as a patient understand exactly what is going on.  Your understanding plays a crucial role in the recovery process.  Here we will discuss our diagnosis, our treatment recommendations, and any home care advice (exercises, stretches, avoidance of activities, nutrition.) that will help in your recovery.  If we feel that your condition is outside our area of expertise, OR, if we believe it could be better looked after somewhere else, we will do our best to point you in the right direction.