What to Expect

Your First Visit

This will be a double appointment lasting up to 1 hour. Half the time will be spent filling in a record card of your personal and medical details and the next half will be for an examination and treatment.

Our first concern is to find out what is wrong and if at any point our chiropractor discovers or suspects a condition that requires medical interventions, they will refer you to your GP.

Our chiropractors will:

Take a full medical case history, ask about your general health lifestyle and activities, previous conditions and details of any past or present symptoms.
Explain Chiropractic and ask your permission to examine you, carrying out any necessary orthopaedic & neurological diagnostic tests.
Refer you for X-ray or MRI if necessary. (Through GP or privately)
We will explain our findings and plan of treatment, then with your consent, make any necessary light manual adjustments.
We will explain how our findings relate to your symptoms and answer any questions that you may have.
We will give preventative aftercare advice, as appropriate, about lifestyle, diet, posture, stretch and exercise. We can discuss methods of non prescriptive pain control if necessary.

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I have been visiting Mel for 7 years and would highly recommend her. I initially visited Mel to help solve repeated neck pain. Mel’s treatment quickly solved the issue and I now visit Mel once every 2-3 months for check ups and treatment. Mel is always kind and caring, and as well as providing excellent treatment we have a good chat. Mel always asks about my family and answers all of my back related questions (of which I have many!). The new treatment rooms are amazing and I would definitely recommend you visit Mel! Would give more than 5 stars if I could!

Steve Topiazo Feb 2023

Mel is amazing. She puts you at ease and always makes my body feel good as new irrelevant of how my body initially presents to her - no jar / twinge or freeze is a match for her! Mel has also been great helping me to manage my vertigo symptoms too. A real life saver!
I love the new space - super easy to get to. Free parking around the corner and easy to access from the station too.

Kate V. Feb 2023

I started seeing Mel last year after the return of some nasty, long-term back issues. My previous therapist was on maternity leave and I was worried that seeing someone new might not work for me, especially when I was in so much discomfort, but I needn't have been. Mel was extremely patient and went out of her way to see me as soon as possible, and I left with a massively reduced level of pain and it's associated anxiety, as well as a much improved range of movement. She continues to treat my ongoing niggles as they arise, and it has been a massive physical and psychological relief to see someone who is not only excellent at what they do, but also warm, welcoming and very easy to talk to. I would certainly recommend her.

Helen Barrett Apr 2023

What can I say, Mel is fantastic, I spent years in pain just getting on with it and now wished I had found Mel sooner!! A noteable difference with even the first session, Mel is friendly and professional with a clean work space. I do not hesitate recommending her to others, you won't look back!!

Katie Barnes Apr 2023

I've been going to Mel for a year and she is amazing! Couldn't rate her high enough ✨️ She is great at what she does and with the added bonus of being such a lovely person

Megan Bailey Apr 2023

Follow up treatment

These are up to 30 minutes, initially weekly. This allows us plenty of time to listen to how your body has adapted to treatment and so, adapt our plan of care accordingly, before giving you plenty of treatment time.

We aim to help relieve your problem as quickly as possible. We like for you to feel independent of Chiropractic NOT dependant. After initial treatment, most patients feel significant improvement quite quickly, Whilst we like to see symptoms go quickly, the underlying cause may still be there, Pain is often the last thing to come and the first thing to go. We like to see the causative problem gone so that it does not reoccur in the future. To do this we advise increasing interval treatments, so that we can be sure that your body continues to stay well, whilst becoming less reliant on us. Some people find this so useful that they choose to come for occasional check ups, enjoying a more comfortable/healthier quality of life between visits.

Your Recovery

During your treatments we will reassess and monitor your progress and ensure that we are meeting your expectations. The number of sessions required varies and depends on:

How long you’ve had the problem – the more recent, then usually the quicker it will heal
The nature of your problem – simple of more complex
Your age – older people tend to heal more slowly
Your lifestyle – how you use your body
Your diet, general health and fitness and stress
Your recovery is also influenced by your compliance and engagement with our self help advice.

Your chiropractor will give you an idea of how many treatments that you will need at your first visit. However, most people feel a lot better after 1 – 3 appointments.

After Care

During a course of chiropractic care, you can expect to feel physical changes as your body realigns, adapts and heals. By practising simple but consistent aftercare you help yourself to recover more quickly and maximise the benefits of your treatment. Your McTimoney chiropractor will advise you about aftercare and any necessary lifestyle changes to maximise the effectiveness of your treatment.

How you use your body after a treatment can affect how you heal and repair. For this reason we offer advice about how best use your body after. In an ideal situation it is best to keep gently active for 48 hours after and we will give advice about activities of daily living and how to prevent recurrence or re injury.

Usual aftercare advice may include:

Activity – Do not over do it immediately after treatment. Avoid unusual or non essential activities such as: strenuous exercise, gym visits, gardening and long distance journeys, Gentle walking is fine, the body is better keeping active. Too much rest can cause you to stiffen.
Extremes of temperature – Do not put hot or cold on the body immediately after treatment it could delay the healing process, Heat may increase swelling and effect the result of the treatment by altering the muscle or ligament tension, Ice can be useful to ease pain and swelling but only if advised.
Hydration – Drink plenty of water, the muscles and body will heal and perform much better if well nourished and hydrated.

We have treated hundreds of people over the past 8 years who have had a wide variety of symptoms and ailments. Both chiropractor and patient have enjoyed a lot of success, some people even get improvement from problems that they did not initially come to us with! For these reasons, many people choose to attend regularly to help their body alignment and well being.

Check-ups

Sometimes called wellness / preventative care or elective check ups are becoming more popular. As patients realise the benefit they often feel and less pain and enjoy more movement and from having an ‘MOT’ from time to time.

At the point when you may consider a check up, it will have been a while since you had your last treatment and, assuming that you have not had any relapses, you will be as good as we can get you.

This may be:

Better than you were before you came for treatment with us, but still aware of varying symptoms from time to time.
Back to what is ‘normal’ for you.
Better than you have been for quite a while.

‘’If I feel fine why do I need a check-up?’’

One of my patients tells his friends when they ask him this, ‘’It is because I have check-ups, that I do feel fine!’’

Obviously, it is up to you if you want a check up. It is not a complete insurance policy to never having a recurrence of your symptoms, or developing new ones, but it does minimise the likelihood of that risk.

Patients are often very motivated and conscious to help to use their body in the best way to avoid stress and strain, when they first come. After a while, especially when pain or symptoms have gone and are no longer there as a reminder, then things can begin to slip a little. Life tends to be busy and we can distracted from remembering our exercises and preventative advice. If you are not careful you can end up feeling not as good as you could be.

Many people find that by having occasional check ups they can stay well for longer or are better able to cope with everyday activities. It allows us the chance to modify our self-help advice to you.

We want you to be as independent of us as possible and it is up to you if you would like to get an occasional check up. Our chiropractors can advise you, based on your individual lifestyle, the severity of the pre existing condition, your work etc, when would be a good time to revisit. Some come 3-4 monthly, some 6 monthly and some annually.