Frequently Asked Questions

Chiropractic adjustments are gentle manipulations of the spine and can be very powerful tools for healing.

This is because chiropractic adjustments are so effective in correcting the cause of your pain: misaligned vertebrae, stiff spinal joints and tense muscles.

After chiropactic adjustments, your joints move more smoothly and your muscles can relax.

The spinal column is a flexible but sturdy structure with moving joints between each pair of vertebra from the top of the neck to the tailbone. Problems typically arise when a joint that should be moving is stuck due to repetitive action/micro trauma (raking leaves) or major trauma (whiplash), as opposed to the bone slipping or “going out” of place. These vertebral joint fixations are often painful and the tissue surrounding them is inflamed. The chiropractic adjustment restores normal motion to the joints in the problem area, the pain and pressure is relieved and the inflammation decreases.

However, corrective chiropractic care also includes addressing the support muscles and ligaments that may be out of balance, some needing to be strengthened and some needing to be stretched. Rehabilitative exercises, prescribed by your chiropractor, maintain your spinal alignment so that all the moving parts keep moving!

Absolutely. In Oregon, a Doctor of Chiropractic may act as the attending physician to an injured worker, meaning you have the right to seek treatment from a chiropractor without a medical referral.

Your employer may require that you also see the company doctor for an evaluation, but it is ultimately your choice as to where you go for treatment.

Your chiropractor will communicate with the MD, who will retain attending physician status, and keep him or her apprised of your progress.

Many on-the-job injuries are musculoskeletal in nature and respond particularly well to chiropractic care, and numerous studies have shown that injured workers who receive chiropractic care are back on the job sooner.

NO! Especially in today’s economy, chiropractic care is an excellent value for your health care dollars.

Paying cash for a visit to the chiropractor’s office is less expensive than a comparable visit to a medical doctor or even to a physical therapist. Even if you have insurance, the high deductibles and co-payments typically mean more out of pocket expense.

Chiropractic care used to its fullest potential is more preventive in nature and therefore saves you money in the long run. It is not dependent on expensive pharmaceutical drugs to address symptoms, but rather looks to neutralize the cause of the symptoms and restore balance to the whole body, beginning with the spine and the nervous system.

At Colfer Chiropractic Wellness Center, we treat the whole person, and that’s a real value!

In most cases, YES! While there can be more ominous reasons for headache pain, the vast majority of headaches are considered non-life threatening and many times originate from tension in the neck.

Taking a pain-reliever blocks some of the body’s chemicals involved in the pain response, so you don’t feel the headache as much, but in a very real sense it is still there since the cause has not been addressed. Chiropractic care interrupts this cycle and the body restores its normal balance.

If you are having one or more headaches a week, this is NOT normal! Despite what one might conclude from TV commercials for non-prescription pain relievers, headaches are not caused by a “deficiency” in these drugs! Don’t continue to suffer. Break the headache cycle with chiropractic care. Call for a get-acquainted visit today!

Absolutely! By law, a doctor of chiropractic may act as the attending physician when treating a person who is injured in an automobile collision. You do not need a medical referral or permission from your automobile insurance company in order to be examined and treated by a chiropractic physician.

In fact, chiropractors are uniquely qualified to treat the musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries often seen in these cases.

After being in a car crash, if you have neck and/or back pain, headache, shoulder/arm pain, hip/leg pain or general malaise, DO NOT DELAY! Schedule an evaluation with your chiropractic physician as soon as possible.

The real question is, "Does your insurance take us?"

We do accept most forms of insurance. However, your insurance may not include chiropractic coverage. If you have any questions about insurance please give us a call. We will do the research for you.

In many cases, if your health insurance plan covers chiropractic care, it will cover medical massage and/or therapeutic exercise training as well.

Laura, our office accountant, can help you determine what your insurance covers.

No. A chiropractic adjustment doesn’t change your spine so that you have to keep getting treatments in order to feel good.

We find that some patients return for regular adjustments because they feel chiropractic care improves their quality of life. But the choice is yours.

Most people find the adjustments painless, although there is a small percentage of patients that feel some short-lived discomfort. The most likely outcome is that you will feel pain relief after an adjustment.

Chiropractors are responsible for properly diagnosing the cause of your pain and are licensed to read x-rays. If you have injured your back, or if there is a chance that your pain could be resulting from a spinal disease, Dr. Colfer will require an x-ray. In other cases, she may recommend x-rays to have more information available to determine the best treatment program for you. If you have had x-rays taken at another clinic, you may not need additional x-rays.

We don't plug patients into a predetermined formula of a series of treatments. However, if you have been seriously injured, or if you have a problem that keeps recurring, you may need a series of treatments for maximum benefits.