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Chiropractic treatment has been proven to be effective in relieving pain and speeding healing from traumatic injuries. Your choice of chiropractor can have a big impact on your health and how well you recover from your injuries. The quality of care, records and treatment also play a major role in how much you recover monetarily for your injuries. SELECTING A QUALIFIED DOCTOR 1. Training and experience. Look for a treating doctor who has taken the time to obtain training in automobile collision injuries. Participation in courses such as those offered by Dr. Arthur Croft is a good sign. Ask what experience your potential doctor has in contested personal injury cases. Beware of a doctor who works only with a single attorney. Don't be put off by a doctor who has not testified in court but do ask if your doctor has experience working with PIP, liens and insurance medical examiners. 2. Intake Records. Your first visit can determine how your case comes out. Intake procedure must be specifically designed for personal injury cases. You should be given a prepared questionaire (multi-page) that obtains details about your injuries, past history and exactly how you were injured. This requires knowledge of your body position, seat, head rest adjustment and numerous other factors. A question such as "how fast was the other car going" without more is not a good sign. If you are asked to estimate the speed of the vehicles you should also be asked what you base that estimate on. Failure to appreciate the importance of that information indicates a lack of understanding of how an insurance defense doctor can use your estimate to your disadvantage. You should also be asked for details about the vehicle and damage not just how much it cost to repair. Details about what happened in your car such as "my hat ended up in the back seat" are a must. The doctor should review the form with you before or during the examination. 3. Intake Examination. This should be conducted in accordance with an established procedure to ensure all necessary tests or performed and explain why any tests are deferred or avoided. Range of motion should be recorded using an instrument for that purpose. If the record of the examination is scrawled on a sheet of paper or entered in one of the columns down the side of a form prepared for recording treatment and/or future examinations you are not being properly cared for. X-rays should usually be taken however; if you had x-rays taken by any other provider the doctor should review those before re-exposing you. Look at your x-rays. Are they clear? Can you see the bones clearly? TIP: If religion, fear of serious health concerns arising from lack of treatment or the need to treat even when you don't feel you need treatment are used as means of increasing the length or frequency of treatment carefully consider your choice of doctors. Another tactic to watch out for is the "subluxations kill, God sent you here, let's pray" technique. There are marketing seminars designed to build practices at the expense of patients and their families by using religious appeals, prayer and fear to keep patients coming back when treatment is unnecessary or unproductive. Beware of pressure to bring in your spouse or children for treatment. 4. Treatment Records. You are entitled to see your records. Consider what you see. What would an arbitrator or juror take away from those records in six months or a year? Each treatment session must be carefully documented. Your complaints and statements about your progress should be recorded. The doctor must record observations made of your presentation and pre-treatment evaluation. An assessment of these items and the treatment must also appear in the record, even a simple "treatment taken well". Finally the treatment plan should be evaluated at every treatment. Formal re-evaluations do not have to be performed at specific intervals, each case should be treated individually. Frequent full re-exams may be just a way of driving the cost of treatment up. 5. Contracts. If you are asked to sign a contract for a specific type and number of treatments it is not being offered for your benefit. Contracts can damage your case. It is not medically reasonable to predict treatment beyond three to four weeks at the outset. Many defense experts state that the standard of care requires re-evaluation of the treatment modalities at every treatment. Re-exams should also confirm progress approximately every 4 weeks and any contract for treatment extending beyond that is simply a way to keep the patient coming back. A defense attorney will tear you and your doctor up with a treatment plan that extends over many months. Chiropractic business consultants teach techniques designed to maximize profits without consideration of patient care, contracts are one such technique. The use of guilt, loyalty and religion are also methods of obtaining client loyalty and you should recognize such tactics for what they are. READ any contract or treatment plan. Do you really need to pay $30 each visit to sit in a "wobble chair" or ride a stationary bike for 15 minutes while waiting for the doctor to treat you? How can the doctor predict that you will need to sit in that wobble chair before every visit over the next 6 to 12 months? If the wobble chair is that valuable you can buy one for a fraction of that cost. 6. Referrals to outside treatment. Ask the doctor if he or she refers to non-chiropractic physicians. If the answer is no, leave. 7. Personal responsibility. Ultimately you are responsible for your treatment. If you dutifully show up three times a week for three months for an hour of massage and 60 seconds with the doctor, all the while wondering when you will get better, reconsider your choice of doctors. Consider self referral to another chiropractor for evaluation of the treatment plan. A doctor who disagrees with your report of your progress either telling you that you are being cured when you feel worse or insisting you require more treatment when you do not you think you do, is not working for you. Strongly consider another doctor. 8. Treatment Frequency and Duration. According to recently published guidelines no condition treatable exclusively by chiropractic care should be treated with more than approximately 33 chiropractic adjustments without a careful re-assessment of why you are not recovering. Pain, aching, tingling, numbness, temperature changes or other symptoms in any extremity, the pelvis or shoulders that does not go away quickly requires assessment by an appropriate medical specialist and probably warrants an MRI or other studies. 9. Lawyer Referrals. Reputable chiropractors usually work with many different attorneys. They may have stong preferences for certain personal injury lawyers but they are also widely respected and receive endorsements or referrals from many different attorneys. If a doctor works only with a single lawyer or firm that may be a sign that others have had problems with the doctor. You don't want your case handled by an attorney who is essentially a collection agent for the doctor. 10. Common Sense. When you are injured, hurting, out of work and worried about your future you are at risk. Sly marketing techniques are designed to prey on your weakness at times of need. Take time to read the records and insist on seeing the x-rays. If the doctor won't let you see the records and show you the films change doctors immediately.
We endorse chiropractic treatment for all appropriate injuries and for health. A well informed, thoughtful and honest treating chiropractor can greatly improve your chances of recovering your health and being made whole for your monetary losses and non-economic damages.
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