Physical Therapy Decatur GA

Initially, we’ll conduct a history and physical examination and review and records and diagnostic imaging you may bring with you. Most patients already know what their problem is, including their diagnosis, but I review all of this and make sure you have a real understanding of your problem. I find many patients need a refresher of what is wrong. Sometimes they do not really understand their problem, and many doctors are woefully poor at explaining the problem, or just didn’t spend enough time explaining and using spinal models, or showing patients the MRI or X-ray results. Then I will explain how and why the treatment should help, and then we’ll do the first treatment. 70-80% of patients get some relief from the first treatment. Rarely, one treatment is all they need. The first appointment is usually about one hour long.

Bring yourself, anyone else you wish to bring, and whatever records and diagnostic imaging you have.  The first visit will take about one hour for most problems.  This depends on the complexity of your problem and what we are treating.  If you have any medical records from elsewhere, bring those.  The more records, the better.  If you don’t have records, but there are relevant records which Dr. Castanet can retrieve, please bring that information.  It is commonplace for Dr. Castanet to have to retrieve medical records and imaging for elsewhere.  That is not usually a difficult problem so long as you can remember where you have been treated.  That does not mean that you cannot be treated until after all the records have been obtained.  Most of the time it is safe to initiate treatment before other medical records have been received and reviewed.  The safety of initiating treatment is usually based upon this first history and examination of the patient.  Rarely, treatment should not be started until after all previous medical records have been reviewed.  Sometimes new imaging must be ordered, but most patients have had recent enough diagnostic imaging for the purposes of starting treatment.

You can wear whatever you like.  The evaluation and treatment will not typically involve and disrobing.  Occasionally, a woman may be wearing a short skirt, but we will provide a gown to place over the skirt for privacy sake.  We treat patients in all manor of garb and dress without any problems.  Please do try to come with reasonably clean clothing because you will likely receive treatment on a table that must be kept clean.  But we have treated many patients who are coming from work in their usual attire, and this may be formal, casual, or even physically demanding work such as construction, tree felling, and more.

No. Dr. Castanet does not need a prescription from any other doctor in order to see you, but if you have a prescription, you are welcome to bring it.  As a chiropractor, Dr. Castanet is licensed to see patients directly, without referral.  For the first 18 years of his career he worked with other medical physicians in orthopedics, physical medicine and physical therapy.  For the last 17 years he has been independent, and sees all patients, personally.  In fact, he is probably the most accessible doctor you have ever had.  He enjoys the challenge of lengthy, direct patient questioning that is so often limited in the patient/doctor relationship.  

Most treatment sessions are about 40 minutes long.  But the first treatment includes a history and examination of your problem(s).  So the first visit will probably last about one hour.  For auto accident patients the treatment time is usually longer because they typically have several problems that need to be addressed.  But for most patients with a single problem, e.g. a herniated disc or sciatica, or hip or shoulder pain, the treatment time will be about 40 minutes.  And the wait time is typically none, because you will be scheduled and treated in a very efficient manner.

This varies with each patient. Rarely one visit resolves a problem. Also, rarely, 20 treatments are required. More typical ranges are six to twelve treatments.  Whatever the number of treatments, they are likely fewer in number for your problem, than they would be elsewhere, using other treatments, because spinal decompression treatment is so much more effective for most neck and back related problems than other treatments.  In the course of the last 17 years of my practice, since I started to use my method of spinal decompression treatment, and comparing it to the conventional treatment methods I used in the orthopedic clinic, this treatment often turns difficult problems into an easy problem to resovle.  It still sometimes astounds me how effective this treatment is, and how few treatments may be required to resolve a problem.

Fifty dollars per session.  Where else can you even get a straight anwer to this question?  Nowhere.  Patients are so accustomed to the obfuscation of insurance and medical business practices, that they don’t expect to be told what anything will cost for any given treatment.  I’m a patient too, so I know all about the futility of knowing anything about the surprise invoice and explanation of benefits I will receive for any treatment.  And the bureaucracy of the whole medical/industrial complex is designed to confuse and render you hopeless to understand the charges before you get surprised.  For more information contact with us.