Healthpointe’s Appointment Process
Orange County Neurosurgery at Healthpointe is a comprehensive location for spine care and pain management. Our goal is to determine the right treatment for you by avoiding surgery whenever possible. The patients with back or neck pain that may require surgery, can find improvement and relief with our minimally invasive approach. We’ve made our appointment process as straightforward as possible.
Our minimally invasive approach includes physical therapy, chiropractors, massages, acupuncture, etc., making surgery one of the last resort options to treating your pain.
We understand the healthcare process and know how inconvenient it can be to go from doctor, to physical therapist, and then back to the hospital. At Healthpointe, we’ve addressed that issue by offering all services in one remote location. We’ve made it convenient for our patients to get all the help and care they need in one visit.
Get your second opinions, third opinions, and even fourth opinions in one visit. Ask our surgeons, ask our neurologists, ask our pain specialists, ask our physical therapists, ask our chiropractors, ask our acupuncture specialists – we have it all available to you in one stop.
First Visit
Your first few visits make up the Consultation Phase. During these visits, you will meet with our team of doctors to identify the problems and pains you are experiencing. In conjunction with your visit, we will review your medical history and perform our own physical examination to determine your overall condition. Our specialists will listen to your problems and concerns, but ultimately, you will be in control of deciding what is best to help you achieve the goal of being pain free. We’re here to offer all possible options and opinions for your best treatment.
Tests and Diagnostics
A diagnosis cannot simply be made with a history and a physical alone. Patients will likely need multiple diagnostic tests for our doctors to know what conditions you have, and exactly how to treat them. Some of these test include magnetic resonance imaging, or MRIs (which will help our team fully visualize your spine to make a good diagnosis), computed tomography scans (CT scans), and x-rays. These are important in determining the state of your spine. Blood tests and EKGs may be needed to get an overall picture of your health.
Several consultations with our staff may be needed before we decide to move on to treatments. We want to determine the right methods of treatment for each individual patient. For example, if you have severe back pain, we will first have an initial consultation with our pain management doctor. You could also be suffering from psychological issues due to your pain, in which we will have you meet with our pain psychologist. One of our greatest advantages, is that we have all of our doctors are located in one remote location, so that you can spend less time driving around, and spend more time properly and effectively recovering.
Procedures and Treatments
Surgery is not the first step in the treatment process – if anything, it is one of the last steps. At Healthpointe, we prefer minimally invasive approaches when attempting to fix and heal your conditions, and prefer to leave surgery as a last resort.
One of our treatment options is chiropractic treatment. In many cases involving back pain and back injury, adjustments to the spine can help to re-align it, and reduce pain. Our chiropractors focus on physical therapy and exercises as methods of healing your back, before resorting to surgery.
Medication is another common treatment for back pain, and is often used and administered along with physical therapy. Our in-house pain management doctor can help you find the right pain medication to help ease your back pain. Different types of medications are used in back pain management, and can vary from anti-depressants to anti-seizure medications. All of these medications can be prescribed by our doctors.
f all treatment options are unsatisfactory in easing your pain, surgery may be the only remaining option. Our neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons are among the best in Southern California, and when it comes to surgery, we are on the forefront of minimally invasive techniques and procedures. Our surgeons not only operate using these techniques, but they also teach at accredited Universities, which only further demonstrates the high-caliber of excellency that they possess.