Plus Care Chiropractic & Wellness

I was a patient of Plus Care Chiropractic several years ago and for the most part was relatively satisfied. My pain level improved but I’m not completely sure if it was from the chiropractic care, the physical therapy that I received elsewhere or from starting a yoga program. I attempted to make an appointment a few months ago because my pain had returned. It is quite annoying that they have such a long message on their machine that you have to listen to, before you are given an opportunity to leave a message. Also their hours are rather random. Once I finally reached someone, they told me that my insurance would most likely not cover the services, and that I should just pay out of pocket and they would charge me the approved insurance amount. That didn’t sound right, so I called my insurance company and they insisted that I did have coverage and I would be covered for chiropractic care. My insurance agent even called them to find out what they were talking about but they weren’t very good about returning calls so nothing was really resolved. I didn’t make an appointment at that time because even though I was in a fair amount of pain, I was disillusioned by the whole thing. My pain continued to worsen, so I tried once again to make an appointment. As usual no one answered and I had to sit through the lengthy message. I left a message that I wanted to schedule an appointment. No one returned my call, so I called again about 4 hours later. I was told that they were busy and that they check their messages in the morning and afternoon. There were just too many red flags by that point, so I gave up and went elsewhere. Thankfully I had no problems with the new chiropractor that I called.

I ended up at Plus Care because I purchased a groupon from them for a «Massage and Ionic Footbath Wellness Package». This included a consultation with their chiropractor. Before my appointment they offered me some optional add ons (at a cost) and I added a salt scrub and reiki to my massage. They also asked me for my insurance information ahead of time and before the doctor ever met me they starting talking about having my insurance pay for ongoing massage treatments. When I walked in the door the first thing I noticed was that the place really pushes a Christian theme. They have a big Bible sitting on the waiting room table, crosses hanging on the walls, and bible study cards. Great for Christians but may make non-​believers very uncomfortable. The consultation with Dr. Allen was fast and felt more like a sales pitch than a medical consultation. He had a little model of a subluxation that he showed me and kept telling me that I had subluxations all up and down my spine and neck. However, without any x-​rays or a more thorough exam I wondered how he could really tell the condition of my spine and whether he ever told anyone that their spine was just fine. I was then off to the massage with Emily which I’ll say was above average in terms of being relaxing. However, I will mention that she did the salt scrub on my back and limbs but not on my chest or stomach. I found that strange and I have acne on my chest so I was hoping to get the exfoliation of the salt there. After the massage I was taken to a treatment room for the ionic foot bath. They basically brought in a rubbermaid bin filled with water and put some sort of machine in it, strapped something to my index finger, and had me wear a heating pad around my waist. They also poured some salt in the water. As I sat there for 30 minutes in a straight back chair the water turned absolutely disgusting and rust colored. I’m not sure that I felt any different afterwards but they told me I was detoxifying from heavy metals and yeast. They told me that I would benefit from 10 – 14 of these treatments. I told them I would think about it. However this afternoon when I got home I did a little research into the ionic foot bath and learned that BBC’s Consumer Watchdog said the following about it, «It has nothing to do with toxins. It’s just basic chemistry — electrolysis. The water goes brown because metal electrodes are rusting in a salt water bath.» So even if you don’t put your feet in the water, it would still turn brown”. I think I’ll pass on the 10 – 14 additional treatments of sitting with my feet in rusting water. After my ionic foot bath the chiropractic assistant took me into an exam room and said that they had called my insurance company and had gotten authorization for me to get up to 20 massages paid for. That may sound great but I am a licensed insurnace agent and I know that insurance companies don’t just pay for people to get massages unless they are medically necessary. I thanked her and then called my insurance company after I left and sure enough these massages were not authorized. I have to say, I have seen excellent and very ethical chiropractors before but business practices line the ones I saw at Plus Care Chiropractic give the chiropractic industry a very bad name.