Northfield Health - Your First Visit
What to expect on your first visit?
Northfield Health - Information About What To Expect On Your First Visit
We look forward to meeting you and want you to have a great experience at your first visit. This page will provide you with some basic information and answers to questions you might have about visiting us for the first time.
Arrival and Greeting.
Upon your arrival, you will be warmly greeted by our reception staff. Please let us know if you have any special needs for assistance when you arrive. After being greeted, our staff will help you register you as our patient and set up any direct insurance billing. After you are registered, you will be introduced to the doctor overseeing your care.
What to Bring and What to Wear
Please bring a list of any medications you are taking and any x-ray, CT scan, ultrasound or MRI reports you have available. We recommend wearing some comfortable or loose fitting clothing for the assessment or treatments. Please ensure the area to be examined is clean and bathed. You should also bring any insurance information you have available especially if your injury was related to a car accident or workplace injury.
Initial Consultation
The main focus of the first visit is for you to get to know your chiropractor and, more importantly, for your chiropractor4 to get to know you. A thorough and interactive interview will take place so that we can better understand the main reason for your visit, your overall health and your goals for chiropractic care.
Physical Examination
Following the Consultation, your chiropractor will conduct a thorough physical examination. They will test specific muscles, bones, joints and nerves for function and/or dysfunction. This will help to determine the nature of your problem.
Occasionally, x-rays or other investigations may be required to confirm a diagnosis or eliminate diagnostic possibilities. If this applies to you, your chiropractor will discuss it with you.
Report of Findings & Informed Consent
Following the consultation and examination, your chiropractor will sit down with you and review all the major findings. This is really an interactive teaching time to help you understand the cause and nature of your health concerns. Models or anatomical drawings may be used to show you exactly where you need help. You will also have an opportunity to ask the doctor any follow-up questions that may arise.
Once the doctor has explained his assessment of your condition, he will inform you about treatment options. This will include what you can do for yourself, as well as what the doctor can do for you.
It is important to discuss the anticipated benefits of the treatment, any risks associated with the treatment, alternatives to the proposed treatment, and other relevant details concerning the treatment. Once the doctor has explained the proposed treatment to your satisfaction, he will ask you for your informed consent to treatment.
First Treatment
Often the first treatment can be done on the same day of the initial visit. Your chiropractor will make every effort to ensure that your treatment is comfortable. They will ask you to provide constant feedback during the treatments so that he can gauge your tolerance to the treatment. Occasionally, there may be a need for further investigation or other factors that may result in no treatment being delivered on the first visit.
Treatment Techniques
Treatments techniques vary from person to person and from injury to injury. Our chiropractors are well trained in a variety of techniques that range from "very gentle" to more robust. Together, a comfortable starting point will be selected. Your chiropractor will periodically adjust the therapy to suit your needs. Exercises and stretches are often prescribed to maximize your recovery, prevent recurrences and optimize your functional well-being.
After the First Visit
At the end of the first visit, our staff will help you to book any follow-up appointments that you require. We will also accept your payment for the first visit. Please note that we accept payment by cash, debit, Visa and Mastercard. If a third party insurer is covering the cost of your treatments (e.g. extended health, auto insurance or workplace insurance), we will help set-up your claim so that we can bill your insurance company directly.