Your Visit With Us

Visiting a health care practitioner for the first time can sometimes be a little uncomfortable for many reasons one of which being the amount of discomfort that you may be in or the simple apprehension of getting something addressed which may have been symptomatic for a long time. We at Hornsby Spine Centre endeavour to make any initial consultation as relaxed and painless as possible.

Before You Arrive

Before you arrive it is a good idea to download our intake forms and fill them out as comprehensively as possible. Please try to include as much information about all of your past medical history as possible including but not limited to the condition you are seeking treatment for. Also important is any details regarding the past treatment, if any, of the condition; the dates of treatment and their outcomes.

If you have any scans, x- rays, MRIs or previous diagnostic reports, please collect them and bring them with you for your initial consultation.

If it is your first visit for the clinic and you have not downloaded and filled in the documentation, please try and plan to arrive approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment, otherwise planning for 5 - 10 minutes before your appointment should be fine.

The Visit

If it is your first visit for the clinic and you have not downloaded and filled in the documentation, please try and arrive approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment, otherwise 5 - 10 minutes before your appointment should be fine.

It is a good idea to wear appropriate clothes that are loose fitting and easy to move in or easy to gain access to the area that is going to be examined. This will depend on where the condition is located and will make it easier for us when we have to move the area around or conduct any tests.

We will start the initial consultation off by reviewing the intake forms and then conduct a full case history where we will ask you questions relevant to the condition to be addressed. We will also endeavour to cover any other problems that you may have that may contribute or have an effect on the condition you are seeking treatment for. During the case history we will discuss all the possibilities of what may be causing or contributing to the condition and formulate some possible diagnoses for the condition.

After the case history we will conduct a full orthopaedic and neurological examination of the region where the condition is located such as the spine, upper or lower extremities. The aim of this is to verify or eliminate any of the diagnoses we may have formulated. The examinations also help to rule out any serious aspects of the condition for which you may need to be referred for more appropriate care or for further diagnostic examination.

Following the examinations, if we feel that we can help you, we will discuss any treatment options that we can offer that we feel may benefit you. We will also discuss the injury or condition in depth with you and highlight the outcomes of treatment, duration and any complications associated with the treatment or condition.

It is at this point that we would begin treatment if that is the route that has been chosen.