Your First Chiropractic Visit
Your first visit is about understanding what is happening, why it may be happening, and what we can do to help you move forward.
At McBrearty Family & Sport Chiropractic, we don’t assume every patient needs the same treatment. We start by listening, evaluating how you move and identifying what may be contributing to the problem.
Investigate before we intervene.
Your First Visit Starts with Your Story
What Brought You In?
We’ll talk about:
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When the problem started
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What makes it better or worse
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What you have already tried
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Previous injuries or similar problems
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Your work, training, sport and daily activities
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What the problem is keeping you from doing
Whether you want to get back to running, working comfortably, training, playing with your kids or simply moving without limitation, understanding your goal gives the examination and your care a purpose.
We Evaluate More Than Where it Hurts
Pain gives us useful information, but it doesn’t always tell us the whole story.
Depending on your individual situation, your evaluation may include:
Range of motion
Soft-Tissue Function
Movement Quality
Strength & Coordination
Orthopedic Testing
Functional Movements
Joint Movement
Neurologic Function
Load Tolerance
Not every patient needs every test. The goal is not to create a long checklist of findings. It is to identify the patterns that matter most to your problem.
We Want to See How You Move
The body doesn’t live on an examination table.
A problem may only become clear when you squat, reach, rotate, lift, run or perform another movement that matters in your everyday life.
For athletes and active patients, we may also look at how your body responds to greater speed, resistance, repetition, fatigue or sport-specific demands.
The question isn’t only whether you can perform a movement. It’s whether your body can tolerate that movement under the demands of your real life.
Our Approach to Your Care
Assess
We combine your history, movement, strength, joint function, soft-tissue findings and other relevant testing.
Understand
We look for patterns that may explain what is contributing to the problem rather than focusing only on the painful area.
Treat
Your care is based on what we actually find during the examination.
Reassess
After treatment, we check whether meaningful changes occurred and use that feedback to guide what happens next.
Two people can arrive with the same diagnosis and require very different approaches. That’s why we treat the patient, not simply the diagnosis.
Treatment Is Based on What We Find
There is no single treatment used for every patient.
Depending on your examination findings, your care may include:
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Chiropractic manipulation or mobilization
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Active Release Techniques®
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Soft-tissue treatment
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Neurodynamic techniques
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Rehabilitation exercises
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Movement retraining
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Graded loading
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SoftWave or other appropriate therapies
The right tool depends on the problem we are trying to solve.
If your response doesn’t match what we expected, we reassess and adjust the plan rather than continuing the same approach simply because a protocol says we should.
Our Goal Is Bigger Than Pain Relief
Feeling better matters, but our goal is not simply to chase pain.
We want to help you understand what may be contributing to the problem, improve how your body functions and build the capacity you need for the activities that matter to you.
That may mean:
Improve fascial mobility •
Reduce restrictions between tissue layers •
Support more efficient movement patterns •
Ultimately, we want you to become more capable, not more dependent.
That is what Move Well. Feel Good. means to us.
