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Mesa Chiropractors FAQ
Like other Mesa chiropractors, we hear many questions from new and current chiropractic patients. Here are some of the most common questions and answers...
Does my insurance cover massage therapy?
It depends on your insurance coverage and limitations. Julia, our receptionist, will discuss your insurance coverage, co-pay and deductible. Insurances have become difficult in Arizona over the last year. Many insurance providers use a gate keeper for their chiropractic claims called ASHN (American Specialty Health Network) which handles their chiropractic claims. This group tends to limit your access to chiropractic by controlling how often you can receive chiropractic care and what we can do.
I work until 5PM can I still receive care here?
We’re open until six M-F, and every other Saturday morning. We’d like you to be here a little before six for your adjustment and therapy, but our massage therapists will often stay until 7PM.
Do you have to “POP” my neck or spine? It scares me…
First of all adjustments are very safe and effective. But, Mesa AZ chiropractor, Dr. Ahnen can do a variety of adjustive techniques and try to tailor care to each patient’s specific needs. If a patient cannot tolerate a typical chiropractic diversified adjustment, which tends to produce a “pop”, we can do other adjustive techniques such as activator, a small hand held device that gently adjusts the spine; drop table, where the table “drops” out under the patient; SOT blocks, where a patient lays on wedge shaped blocks to gently stretch the spine into alignment; and Traction type adjustments where we stretch the spine into alignment.
What causes the popping sound, and how does an adjustment work?
The popping sound is simply causes by gas being formed when the joint opens. It doesn’t mean the bone broke or anything like that. It simply means the joint opened, but that does produce a lot of physiological effects. First, it helps to align the spine which takes pressure off tissues that might be pinched and helps to relax tight muscles that may be in spasm because of the misaligned spine.
Also, when the “pop” occurs it causes a vibration to receptors in the joint. These receptors send a signal to the brain which in turn sends a signal back to the joint to “reset” which can tell the tissues that were innervated by the nerve that goes through that joint to go back to what was perceived as normal by the body. It’s kind of like hitting “reset” to a computer that has been running sluggishly and when it reboots it works fine.
I have friends that say once you start going to the chiropractor, you have to go forever. Will I have to go forever? How long?
I’ve heard this concern from many patients, and the answer is not a simple one. First, you are ultimately in charge of your care and make the final decision. I just guide you and give you advice based upon my education and experience. Everyone is different. I’ve had patients that only required one treatment, and I have others that receive care on an ongoing basis. It depends upon your unique situation.
If you are a person who sits behind a computer all day with poor ergonomics and lots of repetitive trauma, then you may have an ongoing problem. In that situation, I would educate you to set up your work station to minimize ergonomic stress and repetitive trauma. I would also give that person an exercise program to assist in minimizing stress on the spine, nutritional counseling and lifestyle changes if needed. Sometimes those changes are all a person requires to stay healthy, but often stress, genetics, bad luck, and lifestyle situations help to produce an ongoing problem and these patients require ongoing care.
Call us to make an appointment and see what sets us apart from other Mesa chiropractors!
