Just because you are working from home (WFH) or practising social distancing doesn’t mean you have to stop your recovery journey!
At Square One Active Recovery, we have decided to move our consultations + exercise programing + coaching online so we can better serve the needs of all of us in Singapore.
Chiropractor Jesse Cai talks to physiotherapist Olivia Ting about her experience with online consultations. Known also as The Travel Physio, Olivia sees 100% of her clients online since the start of the year (pre COVID-19).
While I may be the first chiropractor to make the transition into an online treatment arrangement, chiropractors and physiotherapists around the world from United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have already successfully bring their practice online.
Here is how it would look:
Step 1: your Initial consultation
As with our face-to-face consultations, the first visit is always about understanding the problem or challenge you – our client – is facing. From there we move on to explore what are the goals or results you are hoping to achieve from working with us. This could be anything from sitting at the computer for 6 hours without pain or running a sub-8:30 2.4km run (yes, we have done this before).
This part of the consultation will largely remain the same. There is virtually no difference between a face-to-face vs. a online video setting.
From here, we will move on to the movement + exercise assessment phase.
Wow, doesn’t hurt anymore
Teaching a brand new exercise from scratch via online video. You can see that it is the expertise more than the “hands on” therapy that matter here. By providing verbal cues of changing his foot position, we can make this client’s pain go away.
With verbal and visual cues, I will guide you through a series of movements or exercises to see how the region of your complaint is performing. Based on your response and what I can observe through the video call, I will provide suggestions on what you can do to improve your recovery outcomes.
Once I have an idea of what’s going on with your case, I will prescribe a list of exercises for you to do over the next seven days.
Step 2: your follow up online video calls
After you have done the prescribed exercises for a week, we will check in to see how you are going. In this video call, our primary objective is to discover and understand the changes that has occur with the prescribed exercises.
Most people have the expectation that they should be feeling better at this stage. While majority of our clients do feel better, it is really not the most important outcome at this stage.
Results in 5 days?
This client came to us with knee, ankle, and foot pain. We manage to find a pain-free exercise to help him start building knee stability. You can see that in 5 days, he has more confidence in his movement and an increase in range of motion.
Yes, the results may not mind-blowing but we have a systematic recovery process that works. No BS, no snail oil, no miracle cure. That’s our promise to you.
What I am looking for are changes in your:
- Symptom experience
- Range of motion
- Movement pattern
- Awareness (proprioception)
- Strength and/or endurance
Based on these changes – they can be better or worse (it doesn’t matter) – we will make changes to the program accordingly.
Your follow up sessions are really first and foremost a time for us to check in on what’s working vs. what’s not. The idea is that if we can accurately observe the changes plus do more of what is working for you, you will eventually get the ultimate results you are after.
Remember, with our approach over 80% of our clients will achieve their recovery goals within 4 to 7 visits!
Your follow up video calls will be scheduled between every week to every fortnight depending on which stage of recovery you are in.
Step 3: review and assessment (if applicable)
For some of you who get neck pain or shoulder pain with prolonged sitting (and have been avoiding it), this is the time you give your neck and shoulder a test run.
All you need to do is to sit as how you would usually sit and see what happens over the day. If you want aiming to sit for 6 hours without pain, we’ll want to know if you have achieved your goal yet.
If not, we’ll want to observe where you are at the moment.
How far away are you from being able to sit for 6 without the usual neck ache or shoulder ache?
By this stage (usually 3 to 4 sessions in), you’d usually have made some process. This review and assessment will allow me to understand what are the other areas that may need further addressing and also potential areas that may be risk of your symptoms coming back again.
Step 4: discharge
This is where I really, really do things different from my competitors. I have a criteria for discharge!
We don’t do a you-have-to-come-back-for-life or a see-how-you-feel situation.
Once you have achieved your goals and addressed the potential issues I have highlighted, you would be good for discharge. By now, we – you and I both – would a clear idea of what’s going on and what are the areas you need to focus on in your weekly exercise routine.
Yes, you do need regular exercise to keep yourself in peak physical wellness.
According the recommendations by the Singapore and UK government alike, adults are recommended to exercise for:
- 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity every week
- 2 days of strength training/exercise every week
I will work with you to formulate a personalised program that will address your physical condition + fit into your current lifestyle. If you have certain preferences for or against different types of fitness activity, I will also take that into consideration.
How do get good results with online chiropractic?
By now you should be able to understand why we are so different our competitors.
I genuinely work myself to become redundant to you.
Our practice and treatments are designed in a way whereby the amount of dependency you have on me is minimal to none. This is why we are able to bring our services online.
To get good results you need the following:
- Access to a digital device (computer, laptop, tablet, mobile phone, etc) with a good camera
- Reasonably good Internet connection
- To be comfortable exercising in a video call and sending me video updates of the exercises for my assessment
- To be able to commit to an exercise program plus regular follow up online video consultations
If you are a looking for a face-to-face consultation with chiropractor Jesse, we are still taking appointments on a case-by-case basis (usual fees apply).
We are no longer taking face-to-face appointments as circuit breaker is in effect.
To read more about our approach:
- Solutions-Based Pain Management: How do we deliver superior results to our competitors?
- Are You Ready To Live Pain Free? Seven questions to ask yourself before committing to treatment
- Neck Pain: The text neck and “bad posture” myth you should know about
- Slipped Disc? You really don’t need a MRI for lower back pain (and it’s okay to exercise)
BOOK A CHIROPRACTOR IN SINGAPORE
Based in Singapore, Square One Active Recovery offers treatments with a very big difference. With our evidence-based exercise approach, you can achieve your recovery goals in just 12 weeks. Not getting results from your chiropractor, TCM doctor or physiotherapist? Talk to us and find out how we can take your recovery to the next level.
Our goal? To make our own services redundant to you.
*We do not offer temporary pain relief such as chiropractic adjustments, dry needling, or any form of soft tissue therapy.
