Welcome to Westlake Chiropractic, PLLC
The Office of Dr. Katerina Sheffield
Initial Visit
Our goal is to make you as comfortable as possible on your first visit to our office. The initial visit will include a consult and comprehensive spine examination with Dr. Sheffield. Please read the following and contact us if you have more questions before your first visit.
Please note: your first two visits will be longer than regular appointments. You will have paperwork to complete and information to read before seeing Dr. Sheffield. Please make sure you arrive on time so that you have all of the allotted time with Dr. Sheffield. If you are late due to traffic or have problems finding our office, we will do our best to accommodate you, but we cannot guarantee the entire time.
More information is available on our scheduling system when you book online for the 1st and 2nd visits.
For those who want to fill out the clinical portion of our paperwork in the comfort of your own home, we have our case history available. Otherwise, you can fill it out here along with the other forms necessary. This paperwork provides us with your health history and information on your condition.
If you have any spinal imaging, X-ray or MRI, from the last 5 years, bring those with you if you can.
Consultation
Next, you will have a consultation with Dr. Katerina Sheffield to discuss your spine, and applicable health-related problems and concerns. This initial visit is designed for Dr. Sheffield to learn more about you, your condition, and your goals.
Examination
After your consultation, Dr. Sheffield will perform a comprehensive spinal examination to assess your biomechanics, spine health, disc health, and gather the information needed to diagnose any spine problems. Postural, orthopedic, neurologic and chiropractic testing will be done. This will let her know if imaging is needed, or if your case points toward needing an MD referral. Her extensive post grad training as it relates to spinal trauma, along with many years of clinical experience make her an excellent choice for chiropractic care and spinal health .
The goal of the first visit with these conditions is to determine if spinal problems are at play with any patient who comes in for an Initial visit. If there is not a spinal component, Dr. Sheffield can help point you in the right direction to a provider who can possibly help. Her experience as a clinical pharmacist for over 17 years comes in handy, knowing both sides: chiropractic and the medical side of health and wellness.
Imaging
Depending on your specific condition and exam results, Dr. Sheffield will determine if you need imaging: either spinal X-Rays or an MRI.
Report of Findings - 2nd Visit
On your second visit, Dr. Sheffield will go over the results of your exam, any imaging performed, and your diagnoses.
Having your cell phone handy for this visit is great, so you can take pictures if
you had imaging done.
You can bring a spouse, parent or significant other if they are interest learning about your case as well. You will also be adjusted.
The first two visits are longer, about an hour, but after that, you can expect most visits to be 20-30 minutes.
Treatment
Dr. Sheffield will address any atlas, or C1 misalignments using an Upper Cervical Specific approach. This means extremely light force using angles and vectors to correct this unique bone will be used if she finds an atlas misalignment in your case.
For full spine and extremity adjusting, she will use an assortment of techniques to restore vertebral motion WITHOUT any twisting, ‘cracks’ or rotational techniques. Along the way, Therapeutic Exercises, neck curve restoration, or fascial work may be offered.
Dr. Sheffield is very collaborative with her patients, including them in the process and educating them along the way. Ergonomics will be discussed so that healthy habits can be changed as one progresses.
Hopefully this overview helps. If you have any other questions, please contact us.
