Archive for February, 2011
Patient Appreciation Day is March 7
Posted by: | Comments
All of you loyal, current customers know how Lowe Chiropractic likes to reward its patients. Well…it’s time for another Patient Appreciation Day!
When: Monday, March 7
What time: All day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
What’s happening: Free food, drinks, door prizes, massages, and the usual fun community
Our community of patients know each others names and enjoy getting healthy together. If you’re not a current patient but are looking for a chiropractic care provider, we’d love for you to join our community.
If you’re experiencing neck pain, low back pain, whiplash symptoms, or the countless other issues caused by improper spine alignment or trauma, please call 245-7334 to schedule an appointment today.
Come out on Monday, March 7 for our Patient Appreciation Day. Become part of our community and get healthy in the process!
Comments
ShareThe Three Ds of Getting a Proper Settlement From Your Personal Injury Case
Posted by: | Comments
The best attorneys in the world only accept cases that provide the three Ds. Why? They know that the three Ds in a personal injury case make or break the settlement or their case. Claims adjusters know the same thing—they know that there are three diagnosis that are overlooked in a lot of personal injury cases, and that saves the insurance company big money.
My concern is the care of the patient. I tell all of my injury patients that as a doctor, my job has three parts:
Doctors—Treatment for any injury requires a team approach. It is important that the chiropractor or medical doctor triage the entire injury and not just the biggest pain. I have seen a lot of patients who had multiple injuries but were only treated for the most severe injury and released. They come to us because they still have problems. We refer to a specialist and communicate with the primary care doctors on a regular basis.
Diagnosis—Diagnosis often requires special testing like x-rays, MRI, motion X-ray, or CT scans. It also requires referral to the proper specialist: Orthopedic Surgeon, Neurosurgeon, Clinical Psychologist, Neurologist, and primary care physician.
Documentation—Documenting an injury requires good diagnosis, review of the records of all other providers, and a working up a good treatment plan to suit the needs of the individual patient. At the end of your case, we document anything that is permanent.
With good information and good documentation, the attorney’s job becomes much, much easier.
Patrick Lowe, D.C.
Dr. Lowe is a chiropractor in Louisville, KY. He is a member of the American Association of Medical-Legal Professionals. See his professional resume (Curriculum Vitae) online.
The Role of the Emergency Room in Your Auto Accident
Posted by: | Comments
Crash! Bang! You’re in an accident and rushed to the emergency room at the nearest hospital. You walk into my office a week later and we have a conversation that goes like this:
Patient: “Doc, I went to emergency room and they said, ’It’s just a sprain,’ or ‘Just a mild case of whiplash.’ I thought I would be okay.”
Me: “What did they do?”
Patient: “They took some x-rays, gave me muscle relaxers, a pain pill, and an anti-inflammatory.”
Let me take you through the day of the highly-trained trauma specialists that work in the best hospitals in the country. The doctor walks in to work and immediately has to intubate a 16 year-old with a collapsed lung: Life Threatening. Then she is called over for a gaping wound with blood squirting everywhere: Life Threatening. Right after she and her team get the bleeding under control , she finds her self dealing with a heart attack victim gasping for air: Life Threatening. Then she walks in to a room to find a person with neck injury. The x-rays she ordered earlier don’t show any broken bones, the patient seems stable, no apparent head injury, loss of consciousness, or life-threatening injury. So she follows protocol and prescribes a muscle relaxer, pain pill, and anti-inflammatory. She recommends you put ice on it and follow up with your primary care if you still have pain in a few days.
The role of the Emergency Room is to intervene in life-threatening or immediately disabling situations. If you are in an accident and feel you should go to the emergency room, please, please, please go. They can rule out life-threatening or immediately disabling injuries.
Keep in mind, the emergency room doctor’s training is not in managing long-term degenerative processes, or rehabilitating the spine. Her training is not specialized in documenting your injury, its progress, or lack of progress under a care program. Her training is not in wellness.
Information doubles every 18 months. That’s a lot to keep up with. If I am in an accident, suffer a heart attack, or cut myself using a chainsaw, I want the ER doctor who focuses her training on the best research and techniques available to keep me alive. I can worry about the rest later.
Here are a few statistics to keep in mind:
- One national study showed that it only takes eight days after an injury for the body to set up enough scar tissue to double the amount of treatment required for some injuries.
- 50 percent of the people who suffer a whiplash injury still have pain 10 years later.
If you’re in a car accident and go to the emergency room, please follow up with me immediately. I can assess your situation from a different point-of-view and determine whether or not you’ll need ongoing care for your injuries.
Share
