First Office Visit

What should I expect from my first visit?

1. We review your medical history and lifestyle.
2. Assess range of motion, join mobility and pain levels.
3. Evaluate muscles causing your pain and trigger points for tightness and tenderness.
4. We will recommend treatment options, including lifestyle issues that contribute to your paint. You may need to make changes to reduce perpetuating factors and we will go over self-care techniques to contribute to your treatment.

Assessment

The first time we see you Assessment is one of the longest parts of the session. We take a very detailed and thorough history. We examine you thoroughly, measure your range of motion and evaluate your various pain levels. Every session we repeat this process but each time we focus less on assessment and more on treatment and education. We don’t perform the type of diagnosis your doctor might.

For instance, we won’t tell you that you have tendonitis – maybe your doctor already told you that. In our assessment we’ll tell you what muscles or other connective tissues are being stressed and overused, perhaps leading to tendonitis. We’ll help you understand the behaviors that can cause and perpetuate tendonitis. And every time you come back we will assess you again so that we both know if you are feeling better and if you are functionally better.

Treatment

Knowing the cause doesn’t help unless we do something about it. Our personalized, hands on intervention is the start of the healing process. We use different techniques for different patients and/or at different times. Trigger point therapy, clinical massage, Asian style body work, Acoustic Compression therapy and more. However, in each case, we are attempting to treat the true underlying root cause of your pain and disability rather than address a symptom. After the initial session and extended assessment, most visits focus on treatment and education.

Education

Chronic problems develop over time. Sports injuries and repetitive use injuries happen as a result of the activities each of us engage in. Our treatment helps break the cycle for most who are experiencing chronic pain. But it we can’t do it alone. We need you to be an active part of the team. Ideally, Myofascial Therapy is a transformative experience.

Everyone who comes to West Suburban Pain Relief Centers receives as much education as they are willing to absorb on how to best continue to manage and eliminate their own pain. In most cases even serious problems can be managed effectively and you can live without pain and be able to engage in the activities you most enjoy.

Education is a vital part of your treatment plan. As our intervention begins to relieve your pain we begin to focus more and more on how you can take charge of your own pain and manage it without us. We have succeeded when you no longer need us!