I've long stayed far far away from chiropractors after learning about their practices, as well as their beliefs (subluxations). Yesterday though, I had my first official run-in, and it was scarier and more frightening than I could have ever imagined..
Back-story: I was in a car accident last Friday, rear-ended at a light. Obviously had some slight neck pain as a result. I did not want to go to the hospital as I did not feel like wasting 6-8 hours sitting in a waiting room. Instead I decided to just go to my doctor and get "checked-out" just so it was on the record that I went.
My regular Doctor did not take me, since it was an "auto-accident" but recommended me to a place down the road. Unfortunately they couldn't get me in for a few days. I called my Dr. back and after being on hold for 10 minutes, they gave me a number of another place. I called and set my appt for yesterday.
My experience: When I first walked into the place, I realized it was a chiropractor. I instantly wanted to turn and run, but figured hell, I'll just get checked out, it will be on the record that I came, and I'll be on my way.
First off, I've never filled out more forms in my life, roughly 20-30 forms of all sorts of silly non-sense. The one that really made me laugh was this colorful chart of your spine, with each section designated by a color, description of what part of your health it affects, then a list of 20-30 symptoms for each section that you were suppose to check if you had.
There was everything from the obvious neck pain, to diseases, viruses, illnesses, upset stomachs, and I do believe some STD's and maybe even cancer were listed. Each apparently affected by a certain spot of the spine. I did not check ANYTHING and proceeded to put answer "no" to pretty much any question, just so I could get in and out of there.
Meeting with the Practor:
All over the walls were degrees, charts for applied Applied Kinesiology which looked like acupuncture points as far as I'm concerned. The Practor asked me a million questions most of which were ridiculous. I'm 30 years, old, but apparently because I played soccer as a kid, I have severe head and neck trauma from "heading soccer balls 20 years ago" and it was a very important thing I needed to tell her so she could make it better. Oh, and I was in a car accident 15 years ago and was in the hospital for 2 days due to a bruised vertabrae. Apparently this was HUGE as well, even though I haven't had any back problems for 15 years.
Another thing I thought was funny was she felt the need to "brag" to me.. "you know, not to toot my own horn, but I am really glad your Dr. Recommended me as I'm certified THREE TIMES over and am also an addiction therapist among other things. You are in great hands here"
The X-rays:
I think I got roughly 10 X-rays as well. I explained to them I was 100% healthy, perfect fitness, felt fine, hadn't been sick in 10 years (lied) but simply had a sore neck the day of the accident even though it was already better now and I had no more pain. Yet they still proceeded to take x-rays of my entire body and spine. I could see maybe 1 or 2, but the amount they took was more than I probably have gotten in my entire life. THe amount of radiation I was exposed to yesterday was insane (and for no practical purpose imo)
Exercises:
They did a whole series of "tests" with me. Range of motion tests with some machine that wasn't even working at first and the guy had to jiggle with cables a bit to make it work. I then had a full eval by the head honcho where she did all these weird things that rattled off crazy numbers to her assistant in an attempt to sound impressive... "Ok, let me feel your spine..." "OH WOW 413-niner-C with a huge D" "oh and this here WOW, 1297 backslash 15Psquared"... I literally just wanted to laugh.
The results:
Apparently my spine and body is a complete mess and really out of whack. I need IMMEDIATE therapy in order to start the healing process. I wanted to say "thats really strange.. considering i'm perfectly healthy, not sick, and have no pain, how in the world could my spine be that messed up? Especially if the spine is the gateway to everything?"
The aftermath / high-pressure sales:
I was told I needed to set up a follow-up appt, even the same day if I could, in order to go over x-rays and start my treatment immediately. I honestly felt more pressure than buying a car. Keep in mind, I was trying to be polite, I didn't want to just curse them out and laugh at them.
The receptionist asked when I'd be coming back. I grabbed their card, told them I was in a hurry, but I would call them. She said "No, you NEED to make an appointment now, we NEED to start treatment".. I said I'm sorry, but I needed to go into work and see what my schedule looked like this week, that I would call them. "Just give us a day and time now, we will give you a note for work". I explained it didn't work that way, as I had meetings, travelling, and conference calls to attend to. I told her again "look I will call you to set up a follow-up.. With an angry, pissed off look on her face "Ok, but you MUST call us today before the end of the day, or I WILL BE CALLING YOU non-stop"... At that point I ran for the hills and left.
Summary:
Did I ever call? Hell no. But they did call me yesterday and left a rather "mean" message in a very demeaning voice "well helloooo this is the office calling, you were suppoooosed to call us but you didn't.... you reeeeeealllly need to call us back so we can start your treatments immediately. Please call me as soon as possible."
Advice needed:
At this point I'm somewhat frightened. Even though this was auto-related and my auto-insurance is covering it, for some reason they asked me for my medical insurance as well (and I stupidly gave it to them without thinking). I'm now wondering why in the world they needed that.
I'm also scared to not call them. I'm scared they might just start randomly charging me crazy **** and then my insurance won't cover it. I'm wondering if I should just call them and say "hey look, I appreciate the exam, but I feel fine now, and I'd rather not have any treatments when I feel perfectly fine. Please leave me alone and if I want your services I'll call."
What do you think I should do? Just ignore them? Call them back? Should I call my insurance company and explain the situation? Is there anyway they can charge me in the future???
Additional:
I also found it funny that the place was EMPTY. It looked like they were starved for business. I'm use to going to the Dr. and waiting 30-40 minutes. Here, I went 30 minutes early, JUST had finished my paperwork at my appt time, and was immediately pulled in, no waiting. I was also there for over 2 hours, 1.5 of which were with the doctor getting my complete life story, xrays, and all of the exams...
Back-story: I was in a car accident last Friday, rear-ended at a light. Obviously had some slight neck pain as a result. I did not want to go to the hospital as I did not feel like wasting 6-8 hours sitting in a waiting room. Instead I decided to just go to my doctor and get "checked-out" just so it was on the record that I went.
My regular Doctor did not take me, since it was an "auto-accident" but recommended me to a place down the road. Unfortunately they couldn't get me in for a few days. I called my Dr. back and after being on hold for 10 minutes, they gave me a number of another place. I called and set my appt for yesterday.
My experience: When I first walked into the place, I realized it was a chiropractor. I instantly wanted to turn and run, but figured hell, I'll just get checked out, it will be on the record that I came, and I'll be on my way.
First off, I've never filled out more forms in my life, roughly 20-30 forms of all sorts of silly non-sense. The one that really made me laugh was this colorful chart of your spine, with each section designated by a color, description of what part of your health it affects, then a list of 20-30 symptoms for each section that you were suppose to check if you had.
There was everything from the obvious neck pain, to diseases, viruses, illnesses, upset stomachs, and I do believe some STD's and maybe even cancer were listed. Each apparently affected by a certain spot of the spine. I did not check ANYTHING and proceeded to put answer "no" to pretty much any question, just so I could get in and out of there.
Meeting with the Practor:
All over the walls were degrees, charts for applied Applied Kinesiology which looked like acupuncture points as far as I'm concerned. The Practor asked me a million questions most of which were ridiculous. I'm 30 years, old, but apparently because I played soccer as a kid, I have severe head and neck trauma from "heading soccer balls 20 years ago" and it was a very important thing I needed to tell her so she could make it better. Oh, and I was in a car accident 15 years ago and was in the hospital for 2 days due to a bruised vertabrae. Apparently this was HUGE as well, even though I haven't had any back problems for 15 years.
Another thing I thought was funny was she felt the need to "brag" to me.. "you know, not to toot my own horn, but I am really glad your Dr. Recommended me as I'm certified THREE TIMES over and am also an addiction therapist among other things. You are in great hands here"
The X-rays:
I think I got roughly 10 X-rays as well. I explained to them I was 100% healthy, perfect fitness, felt fine, hadn't been sick in 10 years (lied) but simply had a sore neck the day of the accident even though it was already better now and I had no more pain. Yet they still proceeded to take x-rays of my entire body and spine. I could see maybe 1 or 2, but the amount they took was more than I probably have gotten in my entire life. THe amount of radiation I was exposed to yesterday was insane (and for no practical purpose imo)
Exercises:
They did a whole series of "tests" with me. Range of motion tests with some machine that wasn't even working at first and the guy had to jiggle with cables a bit to make it work. I then had a full eval by the head honcho where she did all these weird things that rattled off crazy numbers to her assistant in an attempt to sound impressive... "Ok, let me feel your spine..." "OH WOW 413-niner-C with a huge D" "oh and this here WOW, 1297 backslash 15Psquared"... I literally just wanted to laugh.
The results:
Apparently my spine and body is a complete mess and really out of whack. I need IMMEDIATE therapy in order to start the healing process. I wanted to say "thats really strange.. considering i'm perfectly healthy, not sick, and have no pain, how in the world could my spine be that messed up? Especially if the spine is the gateway to everything?"
The aftermath / high-pressure sales:
I was told I needed to set up a follow-up appt, even the same day if I could, in order to go over x-rays and start my treatment immediately. I honestly felt more pressure than buying a car. Keep in mind, I was trying to be polite, I didn't want to just curse them out and laugh at them.
The receptionist asked when I'd be coming back. I grabbed their card, told them I was in a hurry, but I would call them. She said "No, you NEED to make an appointment now, we NEED to start treatment".. I said I'm sorry, but I needed to go into work and see what my schedule looked like this week, that I would call them. "Just give us a day and time now, we will give you a note for work". I explained it didn't work that way, as I had meetings, travelling, and conference calls to attend to. I told her again "look I will call you to set up a follow-up.. With an angry, pissed off look on her face "Ok, but you MUST call us today before the end of the day, or I WILL BE CALLING YOU non-stop"... At that point I ran for the hills and left.
Summary:
Did I ever call? Hell no. But they did call me yesterday and left a rather "mean" message in a very demeaning voice "well helloooo this is the office calling, you were suppoooosed to call us but you didn't.... you reeeeeealllly need to call us back so we can start your treatments immediately. Please call me as soon as possible."
Advice needed:
At this point I'm somewhat frightened. Even though this was auto-related and my auto-insurance is covering it, for some reason they asked me for my medical insurance as well (and I stupidly gave it to them without thinking). I'm now wondering why in the world they needed that.
I'm also scared to not call them. I'm scared they might just start randomly charging me crazy **** and then my insurance won't cover it. I'm wondering if I should just call them and say "hey look, I appreciate the exam, but I feel fine now, and I'd rather not have any treatments when I feel perfectly fine. Please leave me alone and if I want your services I'll call."
What do you think I should do? Just ignore them? Call them back? Should I call my insurance company and explain the situation? Is there anyway they can charge me in the future???
Additional:
I also found it funny that the place was EMPTY. It looked like they were starved for business. I'm use to going to the Dr. and waiting 30-40 minutes. Here, I went 30 minutes early, JUST had finished my paperwork at my appt time, and was immediately pulled in, no waiting. I was also there for over 2 hours, 1.5 of which were with the doctor getting my complete life story, xrays, and all of the exams...
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