1. Significant Health History

Prior to meeting with your chiropractor, most offices ask you to fill out a form that will provide the doctor with background information about your conditions, when they started and what were the noticeable symptoms. You may be asked to sign a release for your doctor to obtain a copy of your medical records from other practitioners. Some likely questions include:

• When, where and how did your pain start?
• Where does the pain hurt the most?
• Have you ever had an injury to your spine?
• When does it hurt the most?
• When does it hurt the least?

2. Physical Examination

Now that you have finished your health history, you will most likely enter an examination or treatment room, where you will undergo a comprehensive physical examination. This is as harmless as an examination at a family physician's or dentist's office. Because your spine is the gateway for information to travel from your brain to your organs and limbs, Chiropractors perform a lot of the usual tests that your family physician would. For example, surveys like blood pressure, pulse, reflexes and respiration. Your Chiropractor will also test particular neurological and orthopedic responses to gain information about the range of motion of the affected area, neurological consistency, muscle tone and strength. The Doctor of Chiropractic might possibly further examine you to better assess what diagnostic studies he or she will have to perform.

3. Diagnostic Study

The final culmination of the history, examination and diagnostic studies results in a specific diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is established, the Chiropractor will determine if the condition will react to Chiropractic care.

4. Diagnosis

The final culmination of the history, examination and diagnostic studies results in a specific diagnosis. Once the diagnosis is established, the chiropractor will determine if the condition will react to chiropractic care.

5. Treatment Plan & Adjustment

If your diagnosis calls for the care of a Chiropractor, he/she will then discuss with you a treatment plan (methods used), frequency of appointments, costs, helpful tips and a general description of your personal healing process. You might be capable of receiving an adjustment the same day. Your doctor will likely recommend a series of visits. Chiropractic, like most manual therapies, relies on repeated interventions over time to achieve maximum effect. If you have any questions at all about the treatment plan, be sure to ask them. If you don't begin to experience improvement within a week or two, raise the question of whether the treatment is working. If you are not seeing significant improvement within a month, consider seeking another kind of care, or a second opinion.

Health Beyond Medicine: A Chiropractic Miracle When his infant son s life was threatened by a medical condition that the hospital physicians couldn t diagnose, chiropractor Dr. Scott Paton took matters into his own hands. Taking a chance, he decided to apply a gentle chiropractic technique that ended up restoring his baby s health. But unfortunately, these treatments are dismissed by those who reject unconventional medicine. The US ranks a distant (and disgraceful) thirty-seventh in healthcare, according the World Health Organization. The reason? Western medical practices focus on prescription medications that mask symptoms rather than address the illness. This system is dangerously eroding our health and putting children at serious risk...but Dr. Paton has an alternative solution. In his new book, Health Beyond Medicine: A Chiropractic Miracle, Dr. Paton details the five essential factors for health that, if met, can help our bodies heal themselves without the use of medications. Unlike today s healthcare, which too often masks the symptoms of disease with drugs, chiropractors offer medical alternatives that target the root causes of sickness by strengthening our own immune systems to fight disease. It is no wonder that while America spends the second highest amount worldwide on healthcare, says Dr. Paton, we rank only 24th on the list of longest life expectancy, below nations such as Andorra and Singapore! Dr. Paton believes it is time we stop swallowing the lies and the pills and start exploring successful, natural means of treatment. Now is the time to take back control of our own lives and to do the things that will guarantee a healthy, happy and secure future, he says. After all, true health comes from inside the body not from inside a bottle. Health Beyond Medicine presents a true account of: Chiropractic miracles and patients success stories The dangers and ineffectiveness of drugs and vaccines The five factors for true health How a balanced body can help balance and improve all aspects of your life Today s battle between alternative healthcare and disease-centric medicine, one of the most controversial issues today