I recently moved from the suburbs to the city and I knew I did not want to travel an hour to my old chiropractor, as great as he was, so I started searching for one closer. I had such high hopes when I read about Back to Basics chiropractics and specifically Dr. Salomone. All the great reviews indicated a knowledgeable, friendly, safe, and effective practice. Unfortunately I did not have the same five star experience. Maybe I just expect too much out of chiropractors since my grandfather was one and I have been getting adjusted by different ones since I was an infant. I have yet to find a perfect chiropractor but I know enough to know when one isn't good.
If you want the cliff notes, I thought the front desk staff was always very welcoming, the price for an hour long massage and adjustment was only $80 (and if you wrote a yelp review you would get $10 off your next visit) and insurance covered both the massage and adjustment because of how they billed them. I feel that Dr. Salomone was too rough and felt he was doing harm, not good. The saving grace of this practice was the massage therapists. It is because of them I am giving 3 stars instead of 2. Jessica and Lendora were incredible and I am very sad that I will not be able to use them again.
After being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease in my neck due to trauma I have been very careful about who I let adjust it. I had one doctor tell me under no circumstance should a chiropractor being manipulating my neck. However, I had another that I trust more, advise me to get adjustments to slow the degeneration. He prefaced by saying that it couldn't be any chiropractor or more harm than good would be done. I needed to find someone who was gentle. Look, if I do not hear something pop I feel like I wasted my time. I say that only to reinforce that gentle to me means to use least amount of force possible, employ different techniques if need be, and certainly do not force the vertebrae to move if the muscle around them are too tight. On my first visit I brought my MRIs and X-Rays to Dr. Salomone for review so that he would know what form of treatment would work best for me. My main complaint was that the last chiropractor I had seen was too rough. He would have to use all of his bodyweight to get my lower back to move. I had gone in for 3 appointments and what ended up being a deal breaker for me was after one adjustment I was having trouble swallowing for several weeks until I went to a different chiropractor. The adjustment to my neck was particularly forced, he even did one side a second time because it was so tight. I am not a chiropractor but after the angle I was adjusted at and the force he used to manipulate my spine I knew I needed to find someone new; the trouble swallowing later that day was evidence it was not in my head. It probably sounds like I just keep whining about forceful adjustments, but that only because I have been worked on by people who have done the same high velocity low impact (traditional) adjustments with much less force and they certainly would not force an adjustment if someone had moderate disc disease.Most people reading this do not need to worry much about this chiropractic approach. The movement alone gets the results people are looking for, which is probably why the reviews are so favorable.
I will say this, the massage therapist I saw were 5 star worthy. Jessica and Lendora were both excellent. I worked the most with Jessica, who was able to go deep but not be punishing. She was able to find my trigger points and get my muscles to release and somehow its was still mostly enjoyable. I always left feeling like a new person and it lasted for weeks. Unfortunately, on the last visit I only wanted a massage and not an adjustment and as I was walking out of the room I was told that since I didn't get an adjustment I would owe the full amount of $80 and they would not file for insurance. Come on, this is something you should tell people and it feels a bit underhanded that you would wait until after service has been rendered. read more
