Your First Visit to the Hauser Neck Center

Our team wants to help you get your life back!

This page will give additional details about your visit to our offices for your head/neck condition. To read more general information about what to expect at your first visit, please see our pages on Your First Prolotherapy Visit and Frequently Asked Questions.

If you would like our team to review your case to see if you sound like a good candidate for the Hauser Neck Center at Caring Medical, including H3 Prolotherapy and curve correction, we have a multi-step process to get to know you and your case better. Our screening and case review process ensures that we understand your case and feel you are coming to the right place for care to help you achieve your functional health goals. You can start by contacting us and telling us about your case and how soon you would ideally like to come in for an evaluation.

Preparing for your visit to the Hauser Neck Center

Your first visit will be divided into 1-3 days to provide enough time for the recommended testing, and possible treatment, while taking into account the exhausting effort that a doctor’s visit or movement can be for some of our most extreme cases. We understand that for some of you, simply riding in the car and putting your neck through a few movements can cause severe attacks. We space the testing and treatment out to make the overall experience a little easier to handle. Upon the initial review of your case, prior to your visit, we will be able to better assess your needs and the extent of recommended testing, and how to best schedule those. If Prolotherapy, curve correction, or other treatment is recommended based on your exam and test results, we will do our best to have those scheduled in the next couple of days. Please remember that all new neck patients must have a family member or friend to accompany them to each appointment.

Eat prior to your appointments. You must eat before your appointments, especially if you are scheduled to receive Prolotherapy treatment! Please eat a good breakfast before coming in, ideally one that contains protein. You can bring snacks/food to the visit as well.

Test Results: If you have MRI, X-ray, CT, EMG, DMX, or other pertinent lab reports/images, we will likely ask for those ahead of time during the screening process. If you have sent us your reports ahead of time, our team will ensure those reports are put into your chart.

Consultation, exam, and initial motion testing – Day 1

Imaging/testing during the visit: Your visit will begin first thing in the morning with our clinical team obtaining some baseline neck vitals and performing a Digital Motion X-ray (DMX) and, in most cases, an Upright Cone Beam CT (UCBCT), which are used to visualize cervical instability and structural abnormalities. DMX is essentially a video of your spine in motion and provides excellent information for your provider as to what is truly happening with your neck during real-life movements, and Cone Beam CT gives a 3D reconstruction of the bony anatomy of your face, skull, and neck, and especially helpful for viewing elongated styloids. During the morning, our ultrasonographer will also do positional testing of the blood flow through the neck flowing to and from the brain, as well as a vagus nerve measurement and basic positional HRV (heart rate variability)/vagus nerve function test.

For patients who are treated at our center with Prolotherapy and/or curve correction, repeat DMX and neck vitals are typically performed later in the treatment series to verify objective improvement and assess any need for a change in the course of treatment. For example, your provider may recommend re-checking a couple of specific DMX views at your third Prolotherapy visit to confirm your cervical curve or stability in your C1-C2 area is improving with the current treatment regimen and your activities between treatments.

After testing, you will be able to have lunch and rest before returning in the afternoon for your consultation and exam.

Exam and consultation: In the afternoon, your Neck Center clinical assistant will take you and your appointment companion to an exam room. They will obtain vital signs, including temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and weight. They will also review your initial phone history and confirm any changes or updates you wish to discuss. Your clinical assistant will be an important part of your day today and going forward. They will take notes for you through the visit, and review all of the information and instructions from the practitioner throughout your time in the clinic, and summarize everything at the end of your visit.

Dr. Hauser and/or PA Matias and the neck center clinical team will review your tests from earlier in the day and talk with you in more detail about your condition and symptoms in order to make an assessment and recommendation for any additional testing and treatment plan. They will talk with you in more detail about your goals and current symptoms, do a physical exam to assess your neck and other painful areas, and perform specific functional and autonomic tests based on your individual case. If your DMX and other test results and case information suggests that curve correction is needed, a future appointment (Day 2) will be made for you to be assessed by our curve correction team.

Curve Correction & Prolotherapy treatment – Days 2 and/or 3

Curve correction: In most of the neck cases that we see, it is known early on during the initial screening process that they have cervical dysstructure or other issue with their curve which is why we most often schedule a curve correction analysis during the initial visit, on Day 2. If there were findings from the testing on Day 1 that indicate curve correction is not needed yet, or that curve correction is contraindicated in their case at this time, it would not be performed on Day 2 of the initial visit.

Prolotherapy treatment: Based on your overall health and medical history, along with the physical exam, DMX, cone beam CT, neck vitals, and other test results, a treatment plan will be created specifically for you. If the practitioner feels you are a good candidate for Prolotherapy, treatment is generally started on the second day of the visit. With the complexity of cases we take on at our clinic, trying to do treatment plus the consultation, exam, and testing can be a lot for the patient to handle. So, we find that dividing it up over a couple of days is typically ideal.

Musculoskeletal ultrasound or fluoroscopy for injection guidance is always used during Prolotherapy to the upper cervical region (C0-C2). While guidance is not required to properly inject the majority of anatomical landmarks treated during H3 Prolotherapy, rest assured that our providers always have it available to use, if needed along lower areas of the spine as well.

Post-Prolotherapy treatment: After treatment, you will rest with some moist heat on the treated area(s). This helps soothe the treated area and increase circulation. While you rest with heat, the assistant/nurse will review our Post-Prolotherapy Instruction sheet with you and any other recommendations that the provider has made.

Therapeutic devices: If your practitioner recommends a therapeutic device for your condition (such as a cervical collar, heart rate variability monitor, head/chest weights, or rehabilitation exercise equipment), your nurse/assistant can advise you on where to obtain them. Some devices may be advised to start right away, and others may come into your treatment plan after a couple of visits, as the ligaments show signs of stabilizing.

Additional recommendations: If there are any other outside laboratory tests, nutritional suggestions, or exercise instructions, these will be discussed during the visit with the provider, and again with your clinical assistant/nurse upon wrapping up the visit.

Follow-up appointments: You can schedule your next visit with your clinical assistant in the treatment room, or at the checkout desk prior to leaving the office. Due to the limited availability of appointments, we suggest making an appointment as soon as you know your schedule, to ensure you get your preferred appointment day.

Traveling after treatment

Transportation home or to a hotel: You are not permitted to drive or fly immediately after receiving Prolotherapy to the neck. You must have an appointment companion who can drive you back to the hotel or home, or you and your companion may have pre-arranged transportation (rideshare, taxi, etc.). When scheduling your first appointment, our team can discuss some options with you, depending on where you are going afterward.

Stay local: Your first visit is typically divided over 2-3 appointment days. You will find that flying in the day before and staying in a hotel the night before and after your first treatment will make for a more relaxing and less overwhelming process, especially if you regularly experience many debilitating symptoms or episodes from your neck condition (anxiety, dizziness, migraines, drop attacks, tremors, etc.). Our hope is that as you improve during the treatment series, and symptoms subside, travel will become much easier for you. Please note that even if you have received Prolotherapy numerous times, we do not suggest patients fly out the same day as their treatment. An overnight stay, at a minimum, is recommended. Your case may require weekly or bi-weekly check-in visits, treatments, and/or testing that requires you to stay in SW Florida for 2-3 months initially. These things will all be discussed based on your individual case.

This is a journey – hang in there!

Remember, your condition did not start overnight, and you have likely been on this journey for some time, experiencing numerous ups and downs. Prolotherapy triggers the body to repair, and our bodies are designed to heal over time. This means that even weeks and months after the last treatment of the series, the body is still healing the treated tissue. It generally requires a series of treatments, which build upon each other. Just like you cannot rush the healing of a broken bone, you cannot rush the healing of soft tissues, like ligaments. You can, however, do everything you can to support their strengthening. We will give you the best information and guidance we have gained in our 3 decades of patient care on how to accomplish this. The rest is up to you! Happy healing! We are so excited to walk alongside you on this journey, with our sincere hope that it will lead to your restored function and renewed life!

How do I know if I’m a good candidate?

We value your time and we also schedule a lot of time with our providers and team to accommodate your visit. Many of the patients who require our specialists’ care are traveling from out of the state and internationally, but even if you are located within a few hours of our clinic, we want to make sure you are a good fit for the Hauser Neck Center first! Our neck team reviews cases to ensure they are a good fit medically for our testing center, as well as for compatibility with our team, and the patient’s ability to receive proper treatment. Many aspects of a person’s case are examined prior to accepting or denying a case. While we do take on many challenging cases, unfortunately, we simply cannot accept all cases. If it is determined that you are not a good candidate for our center, we will do our best to communicate that to you quickly so you can continue your search for potential treatment options. Please reach out to us to learn more about the case review process which can include submitting your imaging/lab reports as well as a picture of you at your computer workstation, and completing an extensive symptom and medical history questionnaire, prior to a discussion with a clinical team member. If you sound like a good candidate for our center, it would be our absolute honor to work with you to help find the best treatments to resolve your symptoms.

Please contact our team to discuss the urgency of your case and how soon you are looking to come in for an appointment. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!

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