Why people come in
The situations we hear most often
- Pain running down one leg only, from the buttock toward the calf.
- Numbness or pins and needles in the leg or the foot.
- Pain that is worse sitting, in the car or at a desk.
- Trouble standing or walking for long.
- Pain that wakes you at night or leaves no comfortable position.
The exam
What gets looked at on the first visit
- An interview about your health and about what brings you in.
- A posture analysis.
- An orthopaedic and physical exam.
- A first chiropractic adjustment.
Pain that runs down the leg rarely starts in the leg.
What comes next
The care plan, and what you do on your side
The orthopaedic and physical exam is there to see where the pain starts and what makes it worse. The care plan combines adjustments, soft tissue work when needed, and positions or exercises to do at home, often the first relief between visits.
Worth knowing
- Loss of strength in the leg, numbness that sets in, or loss of bladder or bowel control is a medical emergency: get seen right away, not at a chiropractic clinic.
- At the first visit, say how long it has been travelling down, and how far.
Questions
Two questions that keep coming up
Can I keep training?
That's decided after the exam, not before. Some things make it worse, others help, and it depends on what's causing the pain.
Is it a disc herniation?
Not necessarily. Several things can irritate the nerve's path, and the exam is there to tell them apart, or to send you elsewhere if it goes beyond chiropractic.