What To Expect On Your First Visit With Us.....

When you walk in to Blue Ridge Family Chiropractic & Diagnostics, you can expect a warm greeting from a caring staff member.  We will bring you some paperwork and offer something cold to drink and something to eat.  We go out of our way to make sure your experience in our office is comfortable, enjoyable and memorable.

After your paperwork is finished, you will meet with Dr. Levesque for a consultation.  He will discuss your health history and details of your current problems.  Next he will perform a brief exam to determine whether or not you have chiropractic problems.  The exam is completely painless and will start out with Dr. Levesque using a heat detecting instrument up and down your spine (called a Nervo-scope).  It like someone's running two fingers up and down your spine.  This will tell us whether or not you have inflammation in your spine from pinched nerves/herniated discs and exactly where Dr. Levesque needs to further examine.

Next, the doctor will perform a manual exam (called palpation) where he will gently feel your spine with his hands to measure swelling and tenderness in the areas of your spine highlighted by the Nervo-scope.  He will then measure ranges of motion of the involved areas of your spine by slightly moving you around - either in the standing or seated position. 

Depending on your case, other tests may be performed called orthopedic tests that also can be described as the doctor moving different parts of your body around.  These also help us diagnose your problem so we can find the best possible treatment.  If you are an allergy, migraine or Fibromyalgia patient, we will also perform muscle response testing to find any hypersensitivities.

At this point, Dr. Levesque will help you strategize your best plan of action to help you get out of pain and back to health the quickest.  He will recommend either further diagnostic testing or a short trial treatment program.  If you are in acute pain or the scenario warrants it, he will recommend taking x-rays and treating you immediately.

X-rays are taken for several reasons: 1. to determine the condition of the spinal discs (the cushions between the vertebrae in your spine), 2. to determine the phases of degeneration, 3. to locate potential problem areas, damage, misalignments and 4. rule out any pathologies (diseases).  To see is to know, to not see is to guess.  As a Gonstead doctor, we don't want to guess with your health and x-rays are an important part of our analysis.

While we develop your x-rays, our staff will offer you something else to drink or anything to make your more comfortable.  After Dr. Levesque has analyzed your pictures, he will examine you again and begin your first treatment.

Your First Treatment

After careful study of your x-rays and any other diagnostic data, you will recieve a Gonstead Chiropractic adjustment.  The adjustment is a painless procedure that will gently re-align your spinal bones to correct your herniated discs, misalignments or pinched nerves.  The doctor will position you using certain tables and apply a gentle pressure to very specific involved areas of your spine.  He will then make a very small, painless thrust to correct the misalignment. 

Overall, the treatment is mostly painless and feels as though you've 'popped' your knuckles except that it's happening in your spine.  Many of our patients feel relief of their symptoms immediately, however depending on your case it may take several days or even several treatments to help.  In some cases, it may take several months to change your condition because of changes that have occurred in the body in response to your problem.

If you have never had a Gonstead Chiropractic adjustment, you may have a slight soreness, however not debilitating.  Few patients get sore however if they do, they may only be sore after the first time or two.  Dr. Levesque always recommends using ice on the areas you were adjusted for the next several days and we will give you an ice pack to use before you leave.  Always use the ice for 20-30 minutes, then take it off for about an hour, then ice again.  Sometimes, Dr. Levesque will use ice on your spine before a treatment to help reduce the inflammation first.

We never recommend heat!  If your back/neck problems are from a herniated/bulged disc or a pinched nerve (which most back/neck pain patients have), then you have swollen/injured ligaments (like a sprained ankle).  You wouldn't put heat on a sprained ankle would you?  Heat would make your ankle (and your discs) swell even more, whereas ice will counteract the swelling.

What to expect after your first N.A.E.T. treatment.....

N.A.E.T. allergy elimination treatments are even easier than the adjustment.  Before the treatment, we will place certain samples (of what we're treating you for) in your hand.  Then we will gently stimulate very specific spots (mostly along the length of your spine) with the doctor's hand.  Sometimes we use a specific massage tool that also works well and is widely enjoyed by our patients.  This process takes between 5-15 minutes.

After the treatment, there is a 20 minute rest period where you continue to hold the samples.  Next we will muscle response test to determine if the treatment worked, remove your samples and reschedule for a re-check for one week later.  Directly following your treatment, you will start a 25 hour abstinence from the items we treated you for. 

After the 25 hour avoidance period, you can go back to your normal routine and not worry about avoiding anything.  We will re-test whether or not you're completely clear of the item at the very beginning of your next treatment.  The 25 hour period of abstinence is very important as you may lose your treatment if you come in contact with the specific item before this time period.

Most of the time, the initial allergy treatments are treating food/nutrient allergies and we will provide you with a very specific menu/eating plan to use during the next 25 hours.  After the 25 hour period is over, you can go back to eating your normal foods; unless you are anaphylactic, in which case you'll continue to avoid the items and our protocol is different.

Directly following the treatment, many patients describe different responses.  Some don't feel any different and it may take several treatments before a difference in their symptoms/condition is noticed.  Some patients feel more energy and report doing better right away.  Some patients report getting sleepy and wanting to rest after a treatment.  Some patients even feel slightly sick to their stomach temporarily, however this is rare.