I believe offering an initial low-cost consultation can be incredibly helpful to people who have never been to a chiropractor and do not know what to expect. I have also found that it is beneficial for people who have tried many types of treatment and not had much success. These people are reluctant to invest their time and money into yet another treatment approach without fully understanding it in order to feel more confident that it has a reasonable chance of success.
Even though 300,000 people consult a chiropractor in Australia each week, there are still many Australian's who don't understand what a chiropractor does and the many ways in which chiropractic may be able to help. This is one of the main reasons why I offer an initial low-cost consultation.
If this resonates with you then you probably also don't want to feel any obligation to continue if it doesn't feel ideal for you.
Did Your Aches And Pains
Begin As Just Mildly Annoying,
But Now They Are Quite Distracting?
You may not look like this
but do you sometimes
feel like he does?
Unfortunately, many people are still hesitant about taking advantage of an offer for an initial low-cost chiropractic consultation. I have pondered the reasons behind this for years and would like to share a few of my thoughts here.
Have you had the experience of being at a shopping center or at an expo, and even though you were there to experience new idea, products and possibly even buy something of value, you walked past and rejected an opportunity even though you actually thought it might be interesting? Perhaps you did this just because you thought someone was going to sell you something and you might not have what it takes to say no?
When we look at it like that it seems silly, yet I have done it myself many times. There was one occasion when a very happy young man was offering me some free ice cream samples in a carbora centre, and I remember thinking, I wouldn’t mind trying that but I don’t know that I want to buy some now, and I’ll feel like I am obliged to buy it. In that case I pretended not to be interested, and walked past. Luckily for me, the young man was in a particularly positive and exuberant mood and called out to me, even after I had walked past, saying “Are you sure you want to pass this up, it’s really great, and it’s free”. He said it in a way that revealed how incredulous he was that I felt able to resist this opportunity for super tasty free ice creams on a hot day. It took only a second for me to stop and think, Yeah why not? I really, do want some! So I turned around with a smile & accepted his free gift.
If this 70 year old can improve the way his spine functions to this extent then perhaps you can too.
I think it’s interesting to point out that it did not matter to the young man whether I bought more ice cream after trying the sample. His focus was on sharing a sample of what he knew some people would enjoy. That is exactly how I feel when I am sharing what I know will be great news to some, and not the right timing for others. My focus during the initial low-cost consultation is being of service. I know this is true because there are times when I am amused at hearing my own enthusiasm, and feeling my satisfaction in identifying spinal issues that I am confident will be relatively easy to correct and could likely provide the person in front of me with a potential solution for their problems. I have done that day in and day out for well over 20 years, yet I get so much satisfaction that it’s as if it’s my first year in practice.
Move Better, Feel Better,
LIVE BETTER
WHY I DO THIS. I offer a free consultation, primarily because of my life-long passion which began at age 12. My passion is to help people live the best life they can and to be able to do their best for their loved ones and friends around them. I do this by helping as many people as I can to optimise their health. This is one reason why the motto for our practice is
Move Better, Feel Better, LIVE BETTER!
I remember when I first returned to Australia after being in the USA for 18 years. I wanted to find a dentist for the whole family so I called a couple of dental practices and asked, “Could I come and meet the dentist and ask him some questions before I bring my family?” Basically, the answer was “Yes for $150”. I found this quite frustrating at the time because in the USA, many practitioners offer an introductory free consultation before the patient needs to feel committed to treatment.
In America, where I studied for my 4 year Doctor of Chiropractic degree and then worked as a chiropractor for 14 years, people don’t hesitate to accept things for free. Australians are not as good at that, and I think it’s for noble reasons, but it is also unfortunate. Australian’s don’t feel it’s honourable to take something without giving something in return. I’ve also found that Australians don’t want to feel obligated, whereas in America, being offered something for free is so commonplace that they just don’t worry about it.
In my initial low-cost consultation, I have seen many people who had almost totally convinced themselves that they had tried everything already, and so were quite sceptical.
Please do not feel obligated to return for chiropractic care with me if you don't feel that it's right for you. My reward is knowing that I assisted you on your journey back to health, simply by answering your questions to the best of my ability.
Here in Australia, there have been times when I have treated someone who genuinely can’t afford to continue care, yet I felt confident that they were not quite as “healthy and pain free” as I know I could help them become if they did continue treatment. In those situations, I will sometimes offer the patient some free treatment in order for them to get closer to their optimal level of function and well-being. I have been surprised by how many people in Australia have said, “But that’s not fair to you” and have turned it down. What they didn’t realise is that they had then deprived me of the joy and satisfaction of completing their initial course of treatment. Had they let me do that, I may have also been able to witness their further overall health improvement. That can be very disappointing for me, because just like most of us, being able to experience a “job well done” is one of my greatest joys in life.
I talk to friends who make 2 to 3 times as much money as I do, but some say how they only feel the stress and not the satisfaction they used to have. I enjoy a wonderful depth of joy and satisfaction in my work as a chiropractor. For example, I love to look back over the past 2½ decades and think about people who were able to return to work that never thought they’d work again. I can also think about people who are now back into their life-long hobbies such as gardening, knitting and fixing up old cars. There are many others who were able to return to their favorite sport. Others had goals such as being able to get back into the gym and in one case it was being able to hold her newborn granddaughter, which she then did get to enjoy.
Please understand that if I don’t think I can help you with whatever health goals you present with, I will let you know. While I can’t make guarantees, as individual results vary, the beauty of the initial low-cost consultation is that I will perform some very simple, safe, yet important functional tests. These tests can help determine if you have significant levels of nerve interference due to problems in your spine, which are reducing your body’s ability to perform as well as being the cause of your symptoms.
A symptom is usually the body's alarm bell saying “Something is not working properly…!” . Therefore, when we can improve function, the alarm bells may be silenced.
Can you see a change in right rotation in the second picture taken right after her very first NSA entrainment (treatment)? The initial NSA entrainment I perform involves very gentle touches to specific points on the back, neck and body. This typically results in neurological changes that can bring greater ease and improved function to many areas of the body.
This knowledge may then give both you and I a reasonable level of confidence about whether or not I can help you. People often have no idea that their spine is causing so many problems because their pain or other symptoms are not in their back or neck. In my initial low-cost consultation, I may be able to demonstrate to you that your painful area, be it in your shoulder, arm, leg, hip, jaw, or somewhere else such as a headache, is likely coming from dysfunction occurring in a specific location in your spine. The primary goal of my initial low-cost consultation is to find out if this could be a major factor holding you back in your in your quest for reduced symptoms and improved health.
Please note, this next point answers a common dilemma that I've seen Exasperate many people!
I have had humorous people tell me that… “If there’s a problem in the spine wouldn’t it have already shown up on x-ray or MRI?” In my experience, this is not always the case. For example, I have seen cases people with an obvious abnormality in their diagnostic reports that were not causing dysfunction. Other people had no apparent abnormality in their X-rays, CT scans or MRIs, yet had profound dysfunction & symptoms.
In summary, just because there is an abnormality, it does not mean there is going to be pain or other symptoms. Alternatively just because there is pain and an abnormal disc in the spine does not mean the disc is causing the pain. Further, just because someone has not got an obvious spinal abnormality does not mean they can’t have neurological dysfunction causing their symptoms.
A British study supports these assertions. It investigated the extent of agreement between two medical radiologists whose expertise was in the area of spinal injury. They were unable to agree on whether the spinal ligaments were ruptured or not and the study reported “…the spinal ligaments are commonly not visualized” (2)
Mythbusting.
All too often MRI's are presented as the ultimate answer for many health problems. Unfortunately, the above research provides evidence that this is not always the case. For example, there was also a study done where MRI was used on one hundred people with no history who had never experienced back pain yet MRI showed many of those people had bulging lumbar discs. Therefore, just because a person has a bulging disc does not mean it is the cause of the pain. A doctor may still need to carefully correlate other tests before coming to that conclusion.
Further, I have seen a number of cases where a bulging disc has been blank or pains like leg pain (Africa). My trigger is able to completely stop the pain. Follow up the months later reveals that good pain has still not present. To me, its means it can be very important to first try surgical practitioner before more basis such as prestigious such as surgery spinal problems one such example such as bulging discs.
In fact, I have an orthopaedic patient of mine as an orthopaedic surgeon himself. He would often refer patients to chiropractic before considering surgeons in order to refer patients to chiropractic in order to see if they can afford surgeons.
Having said all that, if you have diagnostic tests relevant to your concerns, they can indeed be very useful, so please do bring them in. I ran a company in the US where I created diagnostic reports for injured patients of other chiropractors using their X-rays. For more information on my experience in evaluating and treating injured people please visit https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/car-accident-injury.
Textbooks & recent published research, teach us that a clinician needs to do a thorough physical evaluation from time to time in order to understand the way the body is functioning, rather than only ask questions and look at diagnostic tests. I was taught that in chiropractic college in the USA and continue to practise that way.
I have done hundreds of initial low-cost consultations which has given me an awareness of the level of frustration so many people have about finding a new practitioner. I have come across people who told me how they had been looking for a chiropractor for years, yet they had not been to one. I think what they were actually saying was “I didn’t know how to go about finding one”. I know there are also lots of people with feelings of despair because they don’t think there is any way to improve their condition and quality of life.
CAR ACCIDENT TREATMENT: This person had severe pain and stiffness for over a year when he first consulted with me. While the changes seen above occurred immediately after his first NSA entrainment session, it's important to understand that the speed of recovery varies between individuals and cannot be guaranteed.
Why some people delay chiropractic care? I enjoy helping people who originally had felt they were beyond help. In my initial low-cost consultation, I have seen numerous people who were clearly convinced that they had almost tried everything already and so were quite sceptical. I’m sure some were thinking, “Here is just one more person that may say ‘I can help you’ when I know, nobody can help me”. Therefore, if this sounds a bit like you then it is reasonable that you might by cautious about accepting my offer of an initial low-cost consultation. Because of this, my commitment to you is that I will do my best not to make you feel uncomfortable if you accept my initial low-cost consultation and decide not to return for treatment.
One of my goals during the low-cost initial consultation is to see if I can find evidence to indicate whether or not I am likely to be able to help you, in the way I’ve been able to help hundreds of others. If I think it is likely that I can help you, then usually I am not only able to explain why but I may also be able to demonstrate it.
Sometimes we pass by opportunities because we are on a deadline, or at least think we are, just like when I passed by the young man who simply wanted to give me a free taste of ice cream. But since you are reading this article, I suspect your health is enough of a priority for you to make time to read about NSA care and watch some videos on this website. You can that information here… https://bodymindec.com.au/chiro/neuroplastic-treatment. You’ll then be in a more informed place to decide if you might benefit by my initial low-cost consultation.
INITIAL LOW-COST CONSULTATION: This 20-minute consultation is $59 and does not include treatment. I will, however, review and discuss any diagnostic reports such as x-rays, CT scans or MRIs with you and answer your questions. I will also give you a brief physical evaluation in order to determine if I can find a link between specific problems in your spine and your symptoms. Finding that link is, for me, often the first step in feeling more confident in knowing whether or not. I will be able to correct the cause of your symptoms.
This full-time ballerina practised or performed (including a lot of stretching), at least 8 hours a day, 6 days a week; yet NSA care still enabled her to change her maximum range of motion, as seen in these "before and after" pictures.
What you have just witnessed here, is something very few people in the world of fitness and performance appear to know about. That is, when spinal problems are interfering with the transmission of messages travelling from the brain to the body, or body to the brain, then no matter how much exercise or stretching you do, until you correct those spinal problems you might not be able to perform at your true best. I have been able to help dozens of athletes in a variety of sports by improving brain to the body communication. The same principle applies for people who have been injured or simply developed chronic problems over time.
I encourage you not to walk past this opportunity in the way I nearly did when I walked past the FREE ice cream samples. By stopping to try it, I discovered my new favorite ice cream... sugar-free dark chocolate! It was so good I go back from time to time and have told my friends about it.
Please Note: these results seen above are common but can not be guaranteed. People have different rates of healing as well as different history of injury, therefore individual results vary.
Jason W. Barritt B.Sc (Hons) DC
Chiropractor
1. https://www.chiro.org.au/patients/about-chiropractic/ (accessed Nov 7, 2019)
2. Saifuddin, A, et al. (2003).
