A Farewell to one of our Favorites
This week, we will be saying goodbye to one of the best: Dr. Lauren Calabra. Since joining our office in April of 2014, she has been a valuable asset and will be greatly missed. Dr. Calabra has gone above and beyond what is usually expected at a chiropractic visit. Not only is she excellent with her adjustments, but she listens well to her patients’ needs and gives at home exercises and creates a personal core building regimen for those that want one.
She will spend hours researching a particular patient problem and will send an email with her findings. She has been committed to each patients’ wellness overall. Her services provided have enriched our office and brought in people otherwise skeptical of chiropractic care. Outside of the office, Dr. Calabra has been a part of running clubs around Nashville that many East End patients are members of as well. She has cheered on patients as they run, helped promote chiropractic care at the East Nashville Farmers’ Market, and participated in many charity walks/runs on behalf of East End Chiropractic. She has been one of the best advocates for this profession. Dr. Calabra is moving on to other adventures and we are looking forward to hearing about all the new things that are coming her way. If you are a current patient of Dr. Calabra’s and would like any forwarding information, please feel free to contact the office and we will be happy to provide that information to you. If you are new to chiropractic care or haven’t seen a chiropractor in a while, we are still taking new patients. Please give us a call to schedule an appointment!
Importance of Compliance
Most chiropractors are owners of their practice, therefore, offices operate at the owner’s discretion within federal and state scopes. Many chiropractic offices have various philosophies and perspectives on how to interact with patients and how to reach health goals. These differences will be seen in technique, office protocols, and treatment plan recommendations.
Goals of Treatment Plans
The focus of this post is on treatment plans. Goals of a treatment plan can be separated into short term goals and long term goals. In general, short term goals often include decreasing intensity and frequency of discomfort, increasing pain free ranges of motion, and decreasing positive exam findings. Long term goals focus on increased functional mobility and how to decrease the likelihood of reoccurrence or new injury onset. Re-evaluates and patient feedback are documented to see if these goals are being reached.
The stage of the condition; and if it is defined as acute (new, recent, actively painful) or chronic (old, reoccurring, latent periods) will also influence treatment plan formats. An acute condition is actively in the stages of the body’s inflammation process. A chronic case needs to account for compensatory changes.
The tissue that is injured will also influence the timeline of a treatment plan. Different tissues heal at different rates due to biological make up and external and internal stressors.
The recommended treatment plan goals and visit frequency are based on researched ethical expectations that take into account stages of the condition and biology of injured tissue. Research as found you should expect 80-90% of acute symptoms to be gone within 2-4 weeks of treatment, about 5-6 visits, when utilizing chiropractic care. The last 10-20% of treatment takes a bit more time, active effort, and compliance. Please note, this is speaking of conservative care treatment for conservative care cases!
Research also supports that combination care is more effective than the individual treatments alone. Chiropractic adjustments, muscle work, exercises, diet, and rest are more effective together than simply choosing one route. Long term goals, chronic pain conditions, and injury prevention are dependent on this combination.
Of course the only way this is useful information and an effective treatment path for patients is if they are compliant. At our office we try to support easy compliance. At our office patients have the option to schedule out their appointments as far into the recommended plan as they wish. This allows for patients to consider their schedules and progress. Payment is collected at time of service to ease financial comfort for the patient and to hold our doctors accountable to the visit at hand.
To summarize:
- Treatment plans are designed to reach short and long term goals of being pain free and functional.
- Stage of the condition and the specific injured tissues are two aspects that determine goals and duration of a treatment plan.
- Research has shown what expectations a doctor and patient should have for the healing process and future injury prevention.
- It is always the patient’s choice to comply with recommended treatment plans. Successful recovery is not guaranteed if a patient does not follow through with a credible, researched treatment plan.
We hope to provide as much flexibility in hours and payment options to encourage easy compliance for our patient’s health success!
