Once we've listened to how you describe your problem, we set to work "listening with our hands." We want to know the cause of your pain, so your exam has two components, a medical diagnosis and a chiropractic analysis.
     
 

We begin by performing standard orthopedic tests, maneuvering your spine in different positions. If you have numbness, tingling, or shooting pain down an arm or leg we use additional procedures to test for nerve injury.

Chiropractors are licensed as doctors because we have the training to properly diagnose your pain. As such, our first and foremost duty is to make sure that your pain is not due to a serious medical condition. If we have any suspicion about this, we will need to order an x-ray of your spine or refer you to a specialist.

The second component of your exam is a chiropractic analysis of your spine. Chiropractors can learn amazing things by touch. We have specialized training, called palpation techniques, for "listening with our hands." We can get information about the alignment of your vertebrae by feeling for muscle spasms, scar tissue or stiff spinal joints. Then we look at your posture and the overall balance of your spine.

Analyzing the biomechanics of the 260 bones, 500+ muscles and 32 pairs of nerves in your musculoskeletal system is the specialty of the doctor of chiropractic. It is our ability to pinpoint the cause of pain that makes chiropractic the most effective treatment for most types of back pain and many other muscle and joint pains.

For more information, or to set up an initial visit, call us at 345-9401 or e-mail us at info@drcolfer.com.