Frequently Asked Questions in Lakewood

For most instances in Colorado, the answer is “No”. There are several situations that will require us to refer a patient for medical evaluation or imaging, including: suspected fracture or avulsion of soft tissues. We can communicate with your physician via phone, fax, or email.

Denver Sports Medicine is a multi-disciplinary outpatient orthopedic practice with several specialty services. We treat both chronic and acute pain and dysfunction, sports/recreational injuries, as well as performance and sport specific training. The following are conditions that we commonly treat:

• Joint, arthritis, sacroiliac pain
• Muscle and myofascial pain
• Spine pain
• Any “itis”- bursitis, tendonitis
• Headaches
• Jaw pain
• Disc and nerve pain, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome
• Sports Injuries
• Post-surgical rehab
• Pre-surgical rehab

That depends. If your current training or sport is directly causing your pain and dysfunction, it can sometimes be difficult to get rid of pain without a short break from the activity; however, during competitive seasons, management can occur alongside participation depending on severity and the situation. We like to get people back on the court, field, or in the gym as soon as possible. Working with a personal trainer with a functional philosophy can be a great way to do this.

This question is different for every condition and every person. In general, the longer you wait to seek treatment, the more time your body has to create compensations, change your walking or shoulder movements, etc. Due to personalized, skilled care with the same PT and chiropractor, clients usually enjoy much quicker recovery than they may see elsewhere.

• You’ll be working 1:1 with the same Physical Therapist and/or Chiropractor every visit.
• You’ll receive specialized treatment techniques that are research-based, yet stem from the “art” of manual therapy
• You’ll become more aware of your body, movement patterns, and how the muscular, skeletal, and nervous systems work together.
• You’ll be an active part of your treatment plan. The best practitioner is usually no match for a patient who only wants a magic pill or quick fix. We get to influence your tissues, movement patterns, and body systems for a short time each week. You get to reinforce good changes, avoid harmful habits, and work on improving your self a little each day.
• Initial appointments will typically last 45 minutes and involve some paperwork. Please arrive early or have your paperwork filled out from our online forms section

Chiropractic is usually thought to be focused on the spine only. Yes, that is a huge part of what we work with as Chiropractors but on top of that by working with the spine we work on the nerves and muscles. At our office, we use several adjusting techniques as well as muscular techniques to improve the function of our body. Chiropractic can help with many problems from low back pain, heartburn, headaches, ankle pain, carpal tunnel, etc. Many people underestimate the amount of knowledge and things their Chiropractor can do for them!

You don’t always get a sound with a good adjustment, and in the same way, you don’t always make an adjustment when you hear a sound. For example, when you crack your knuckles you are not actually making an adjustment, you are just releasing gas that is located in our joints. With Chiropractic we examine the body to find what joints are restricted or not functioning correctly, then we visualize the correct direction and force that needs to be applied to fix the problem. Once we do the adjustment there may be a sound, which many people correlate to Chiropractic but sometimes there is not. That is why as Doctors we always double-check the motion of that bone after we adjust, to make sure the correct bone moved back into its normal position.

Many insurances will cover parts of a Chiropractic visit. At some offices, patients receive just a straight adjustment, which most insurances cover, but at our office, we do much more to better care for you, our patients. We also use many other soft tissue techniques to help the body heal faster and maintain the adjustment for longer. With many of these techniques, insurances will not cover, even though we know they are very effective in patient care and healing.

Chiropractic is actually really safe! Many people see videos of adjustments and they get nervous but did you know a Doctor of Chiropractic’s liability insurance is less than 50% lower than that of a Medical Doctor? That is because there is a much lower risk of a Chiropractor causing damages or harm to a patient. We do very thorough exams to make sure each patient is healthy and a good candidate for chiropractic care, because of course as anything there are some populations that are more susceptible to injury from care. With that being said there are also many different techniques that can be used on patients with different conditions.

Yes! Chiropractic care is actually great for a pregnant mother! Your body is going through so many changes and is having everything, especially your low back and pelvis, moving and compensating. We see patients from a few weeks into their pregnancy up till the day of birth. Some people even have their Chiropractors join them during the birthing process to take care of the mother and the baby, because childbirth is a trauma on both the mother and baby’s bodies.

No, not like getting addicted to prescription drugs or alcohol. What most people do get “addicted” to is the way they feel after getting adjusted, a lifestyle and a life without pain. Many patients start to feel and note when their bodies are out of alignment, and know it is time to get back in because they recognize the powerful role Chiropractic care plays in their lives.

Yes. Children experience their first trauma with the birth process. Chiropractic is safe for people of all ages as long as you are trained properly. Infants and young children can’t tell us when they are in pain except for when they are crying. Chiropractic can help children that suffer from digestive issues, colic, and ear infections.

Chiropractic school is a 3 ½ year program following a 4-year undergraduate degree. The first 2 years are similar to Medical school, in that, it is predominantly lectures and labs that involve different sciences. As a Chiropractic student, you go year-round the entire time you are in school, learning everything from anatomy, embryology, radiology, pathology, psychology, and a lot of other topics all while learning and perfecting our adjusting techniques.

Yes. We are trained to deal with people with many different conditions or past surgeries. We can treat people with spinal fusions, laminectomies, bulging discs, etc. Reasonably we will do different areas and different techniques while the patient is still healing from surgery but in many cases, after the healing process, most people can be adjusted as normal with no complications.

This is always a hard question to answer because each person is different. Some patients feel 100% better after their first treatment whereas others may take a bit longer. In our office, we like to tell our patients that the initial visit is the worst the patient is going to feel though because the body will slowly begin to adjust and maintain the work that we are doing on it. Many patients see a decrease in symptoms within the first week of treatment. We also have a strong policy in our office that if we get to a stalling point we will work with the patient to find what is the best path to continue to make their progress happen.