Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I should see a chiropractic physician for my spine problem rather than a surgeon?
Chiropractic physicians are non-surgical spine specialists and are formally trained and fully qualified to examine patients of all ages for all types of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular complaints in any part of the body.
Many patients use our Clinic for the first step in finding out what they need. We are portal of entry providers and can help you with direct access to the larger healthcare system. If it is necessary, we will provide a referral to one of the area’s top specialists when treatment for a health problem is outside our scope of practice. A visit to our office is the first step for many patients, and most often my evaluation and treatment is all a patient needs.
What type of problems do you see most frequently?
We most often see patients with lower back and leg pains, headaches, neck, shoulder, arm and hand pains, hip, knee, ankle problems, sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome. We also evaluate patients for various forms of neuropathy and movement disorders. We help patients deal with issues of being de-conditioned, overweight, and many people suffer from widespread inflammation or endocrine problems and never know it.
In research studies that I have conducted over the past decade, I have found most patients in Northeast Ohio are vitamin D deficient, and many have no idea how dangerous this deficiency is to human health. I have also found that a despairingly large number of darker skinned people that are more severely deficient due to our lack of sun and lack of this important vitamin in our diet.
What should I expect on my first visit?
You should expect to meet with me, and your vital signs will be measured. I will record your complaints, review your current and past medical history, your family and social history, you part treatments, surgeries, medications and supplements. I have access to your electronic health records at our major centers and I will ask your permission to review these files. You will have an examination focused on your problem using standard physical, orthopedic and neurological tests.
Depending on your complaint, you may be asked to have imaging studies. These may consist of X-rays, MRI, Computed Tomography, or an Ultrasound. I will discuss your problems and review your imaging with you. If necessary, I may suggest urine, blood or serum tests or specialized nerve and muscle tests to determine the cause of your problem.
If your family history suggests that you may have inherited some issues we will talk about that and I will arrange for genetic testing that can be done with a saliva sample. If you have digestive issues, we may want to look at your microbiome with an easy to use, home test kit I will supply.
How do I know if my insurance will cover chiropractic treatment?
I suggest that all my patients call their subscriber service number listed on the insurance card and ask if your policy has benefits for chiropractic care; almost all plans today do have some benefit, but plans may be subject to a deductible and co-payment.
A list of plans that we participate in is provided for in the Clinical Services Tab at the top of the Home page. Look under FAQs and the heading Insurance Plans and Chiropractic Medicine near the bottom of the page. If your plan is not there, call the office at 440-528-0005 and ask for Mary.
How can I get a referral to see a chiropractor?
HMO and Managed Care patients can ask their primary care provider for a referral to see me. Patients in plans with open access do not need a referral to see me.
Does chiropractic care help headaches?
Many patients with muscle tension, cervicogenic, and even suboccipital migraine headaches get immediate relief from mild manual therapy of the cervical spine. True migraine patients often benefit from Vagal nerve stimulation and nutritional interventions to both prevent and treat migraine headache.
Migraine patients often have special need that we can discuss one on one if you’ve been diagnosed with Migraine or Cluster headache.
More FAQs
Does spinal manipulation cause discomfort? Is it dangerous?
When manual manipulation of the spine or joints is performed by a skilled chiropractic physician, it is quite safe and usually painless. Sometimes there is minor post-manipulation tenderness, but this rarely lasts.
In rare instances, when chronic pain prevents spinal manipulation, light anesthesia or MUA makes the manipulation procedure tolerable, the same holds true for frozen shoulders. sometimes MUA is necessary.
Can scoliosis really be treated without spine surgery and fusion?
A scoliosis is an abnormal spinal curvature. It can be evaluated in the office and if the problem is mild to moderate, these spinal curvature problems can be well managed without surgery using various methods of manual therapy and spine exercises.
When the curvature is severe or even life threatening, this type of scoliosis often needs surgery. I have years of experience I can assist you in picking an experienced scoliosis surgeon.
How effective are your treatments?
Most of my patients respond quickly to physiotherapy and non-surgical treatments. Even chronic problems like low back pain and whiplash of the neck have been shown to respond very well. A short course of care will provide the answer.
What is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a peripheral nerve disorder caused by compression of the median nerve at the wrist. This nerve compression results in numbness and tingling of the hand and is often associated with pain that shoots up the arm.
The median nerve originates in your neck from C5, C6, C7, and C8 spinal roots that form a plexus and then continue down the arm as the median nerve running down the arm and through the wrist and into the hand.
The median nerve provides sensation to the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger, and half of the ring finger and movement to some muscles of the thumb and hand. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is known as a neuropathy of the Median nerve.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is often the result of an overuse injury and it usually responds well to non-surgical care.