The things people ask before booking

This is the only Gonstead practice in Palm Beach Gardens. Palm Beach County has three in total, and the other two are in Jupiter and Boynton Beach, so for most of the north county this is the closest one. If the specific method is what you are after, that is worth knowing before you drive.

No. We are not in network with any insurer, so you pay us directly, the same way you pay for most things. Plenty of the patients who have been here longest started out unsure about exactly that. Fees are set to what the care is worth, HSA and FSA funds work here, and there are monthly or pre-paid plans. Call and you will get real numbers before you book anything.

Yes. A lot of people do exactly that, both for correcting a specific problem and for ongoing care.

Dr. Chris gives pricing over the phone rather than publishing it, because what you need depends on what the exam and films show. You will have real numbers before you commit to anything, and there is $50 off the first visit if you mention where you found us.

No, and this is the misunderstanding Dr. Chris corrects most. Every patient starts on an initial plan of care aimed at correcting the problem, not just taking the edge off it. That plan comes from your findings and it has an end. What happens after correction is your choice, the same way it is with dental checkups.

No bones are being cracked, and nothing is being forced. The sound people associate with adjusting is gas releasing as pressure changes inside a joint, the same as a knuckle. A Gonstead adjustment is specific rather than forceful, and the force is scaled to the person on the table.

Most chiropractic uses general manipulation to relieve pain, reduce muscle tension, and improve range of motion, and it helps a lot of people. The focus here is neuro-structural correction using the Gonstead method: a five-part analysis at every visit, thermography and full-spine films, and adjustment of only the segments the analysis identified, in the specific direction it indicates. Nothing else gets moved.

Films are referred out to one of three nearby imaging centers that take walk-ins, and they are ordered on the initial visit. They show how long the problem has been there, how much damage there is, how best to correct it, and they rule out anything that needs prompt medical attention instead. Films are repeated periodically if there is a new trauma or to check structural progress. They are not ordered for expecting mothers or newborns.

In most cases yes, unless there is a time constraint or something in the exam says otherwise. You go for films, come back, and start the same day. The second visit is the report of findings, when Dr. Chris has objective response data from both the exam and that first adjustment.

Neither, and both come up constantly. Pain is a late signal rather than the problem itself, which is why feeling fine is not proof that nothing has shifted. Care here runs from infants through to adults, and plenty of people come in for structure and function rather than because something hurts.

Not necessarily. Symptoms usually settle well before the structure underneath them has actually changed. That gap is the reason a plan of care has a defined length rather than ending on the first good week.

That is not what this practice is set up for, and Dr. Chris will say so up front. Expecting one adjustment to correct a long-standing structural problem is like telling a trainer you want a beach body but you will only work out once a week. If occasional relief is genuinely what you are after, he will tell you honestly that you are better served somewhere else.

No. Chiropractors are direct access providers in Florida, so you can book without a referral from another doctor.

Athletic clothing is ideal. Women should wear or bring leggings and a hair tie. You will be given a gown that opens at the back so Dr. Chris can actually see the spine he is analyzing.

The first visit is the long one: consultation, full neuro-structural exam, a trip to the imaging center, and back for your first adjustment. The second visit runs about thirty minutes. After that, regular visits are roughly ten to fifteen minutes.

Then you will be told that on the first visit. Part of what the initial consultation is for is deciding whether this is a good fit or whether you need to see someone else. Dr. Chris co-manages with other providers more often than he refers people away entirely.