In your initial appointment, it's important for your Chiro (me) to gain an in depth understanding of what you're feeling and currently experiencing. A thorough history is taken, discussion about your health goals, what you're wanting to achieve from Chiropractic care and then a range of physical tests are performed. This includes a range of muscle tests, orthopaedic tests, neurological tests and assessing the range of motion of the joints in your spine so we can assess where the root cause of dysfunction may be in your body.
The number and frequency of treatments needed is dependant on many factors including the severity of your issue/s, how long you've been experiencing your issue/s, other health factors and what your overall health goals are.
Your initial appointment is important for gathering all the information needed to advice you what treatments would be recommended to reach your health goals. This recommendation is made in your follow-up appointment (Report of Findings visit).
The noise you hear when you're being adjusted (a cavitation) is the release of gas in your joint. No bones are breaking or cracking. There are a range of low force techniques that can be used when manual adjustments are contraindicated (e.g. low bone density) or when the practice member would prefer to be adjusted without the cavitation noise. We can still achieve amazing results with modified and low force techniques. There is nothing to worry about though as your Chiro will talk you through everything and gain your consent prior to ANY treatments being administered.