We wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

We are closed for the holidays on the following dates:

December 24, 25, 26, 31 and January 1.

Valued Patients,

We are essential and we are open to see patients in our clinic in the “Grey – Lockdown” zone.

Due to the current covid-19 pandemic happening around the world and within our community, we have implemented a few new policies and procedures in addition to our previously updated covid-19 policies.

Procedures and Reminders

• Please arrive no earlier than 5 minutes prior to your appointment. If you show up early, we ask that you please remain in your car until at least 5 minutes prior to your appointment time. Please do your best to arrive on time and if you are running late, please call us to let us know – if you are running more than 10 minutes late, please be advised that you may have to wait to see your practitioner in fairness to other patient’s scheduled appointments.
• If you arrive to your appointment and the waiting room is full (all socially distanced chairs are occupied), we ask that you sign in at reception and then wait outside the clinic on one of the chairs in main hallway. One of our team members will come get you when it is safe to enter while remaining socially distant from other patients.
• As always, patients must wear a mask throughout the entirety of their appointment and while in the building.
• If you are ‘high risk’, have social distancing concerns, or any other concerns related to your safety during the Covid-19 pandemic, we are able to accommodate your treatment. We can schedule your appointment outside of operating hours as well as provide virtual appointments. Contact us if you’d like to learn more.

Policy Changes

As of Monday, December 14, a Credit Card on File is Required for ALL Osteopathic Patients. Chiropractic patient’s are NOT applicable. As always, all information collected from any and all of our patients is kept confidential and secure within our office. The following is the purpose of this new policy.

• To keep patient’s accountable for their scheduled appointments. In respect to all of our patients trying to schedule appointments, patient’s will be subject to a $30.00 fee for a missed appointment. A missed appointment is when you do not show up to your scheduled appointment and do not call ANY TIME prior to your scheduled appointment to cancel or reschedule. If you call even 5 minutes before your appointment, you will not be charge the missed appointment fee.
  • We hope we do not have to charge anyone for a missed appointment. Our goal for implementing this fee, is that our patient’s will do their best to communicate with our office if they are unable to make their appointment so that we can schedule another patient who is waiting for an appointment and to keep the patient flow under control to maintain a safe and socially distanced clinic to treat our patient’s with the highest standard of care.

• To a secure a convenient method of payment for any portion of services provided that your extended insurance does not cover, but for which you are liable. This could be amounts resulting from balances related to co-payment, deductible, co-insurance, non-covered services, or denials for no coverage/eligibility but is not limited to these scenarios.

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ALL OSTEOPATHIC PATIENT’S WILL BE REQUIRED TO ADHERE TO THIS NEW POLICY.

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If you do not wish to provide a credit card for your file, unfortunately we will be forced to discharge you as an osteopathic patient. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please reach out to us or click the following link for the Credit Card Authorization Form and FAQ.

If you have the means and do not have further questions, please print and fill out the authorization form at home and bring it to your appointment. This will help with congestion in the waiting room.

Thank you for your co-operation, understanding and patience during this unprecedented time.

Stay Safe and Healthy,

Spencer Jean, DO, DO(MP), MBA

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Holiday Hours

The following are the days we are closed for the holidays:

• December 24
• December 25
• December 26
• December 31
• January 1

As Windsor-Essex moves into the ‘Red’ Category today, November 30, 2020, we are honored to say that we are deemed essential in this category and are open to safely see patients in our office.

Our practitioners will be wearing googles/ face shields, masks and proper hand hygiene before and after every patient. Our office staff will be wearing masks, even behind our protective barriers.

We ask that patients arrive on-time to their appointments and no earlier than 5 minutes prior to their appointments. This is an effort to control patient flow and minimize congestion in the waiting room/ reception. If you are unable to make your appointment or are running late, please call and inform us. This will again aid our efforts to control office flow and help our office provide a safe environment for all of our patients.

In respect to all of our patients, we ask that you do not ‘No Show’ to your appointments as you would be taking a time slot for other patients.

If you have any concerns about coming in for treatment, please reach out to us as we will do our best to accommodate those at a higher risk or have increased concerns over covid-19. Ex. Scheduling your appointment at the end of the day or outside of regular operating hours.

Thank you for your understanding.

– Spencer Jean, DO, DO(MP), MBA

Tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) is a painful condition that occurs when tendons in your elbow are overloaded, usually by repetitive motions of the wrist and arm.

Despite its name, athletes aren’t the only people who develop tennis elbow. People whose jobs feature the types of motions that can lead to tennis elbow include plumbers, painters, carpenters and butchers.

The pain of tennis elbow occurs primarily where the tendons of your forearm muscles attach to a bony bump on the outside of your elbow. Pain can also spread into your forearm and wrist.

Rest and over-the-counter pain relievers often help relieve tennis elbow. If conservative treatments don’t help or if symptoms are disabling, your doctor might suggest surgery.

SYMPTOMS

The pain associated with tennis elbow may radiate from the outside of your elbow into your forearm and wrist. Pain and weakness may make it difficult to:

• Shake hands or grip an object
• Turn a doorknob
• Hold a coffee cup

CAUSES

Tennis elbow is an overuse and muscle strain injury. The cause is repeated contraction of the forearm muscles that you use to straighten and raise your hand and wrist. The repeated motions and stress to the tissue may result in a series of tiny tears in the tendons that attach the forearm muscles to the bony prominence at the outside of your elbow.

As the name suggests, playing tennis — especially repeated use of the backhand stroke with poor technique — is one possible cause of tennis elbow. However, many other common arm motions can cause tennis elbow, including:

• Using plumbing tools
• Painting
• Driving screws
• Cutting up cooking ingredients, particularly meat
• Repetitive computer mouse use

DIAGNOSIS

Typically, a review of the patient’s history and a physical examination with specific orthopedic tests such as the Chair Test, Thompson Test, Mill Test and/or Cozen Test is usually enough to make an accurate diagnosis. However, if symptoms are persistent with treatment or if we believe there may be another cause for your symptoms, diagnostic imaging may be required.

TREATMENT

There are several treatment options and protocols which would be discussed with the patient and the best treatment protocol for the patient will be chosen between the patient and practitioner. All treatments will involve finding the cause of the injury and aiding to reduce the causation as well as home therapeutic exercise programs will be prescribed.

Treatment Options and Protocols

* Taping or Bracing Techniques, Cupping and/or scraping, may be prescribed in addition to the above treatment protocols.

There is no “Best” treatment option for everyone. The best treatment option and protocol will be decided based on the patient’s history, availability of the patient, physical examination and stage of condition.

It should be noted that we have a higher success rate at 91 to 93% when combining therapies as opposed to one treatment alone.

If you believe you are suffering pain due to tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) contact us to schedule a consultation with me and we will figure out what is best for you and your condition.

– Spencer Jean, DO, DO(MP), MBA

ATTENTION MANUAL OSTEOPATHIC PATIENTS,

As of September 17, 2020, the Federal and Provincial Governments have revised the GST/HST exemption which manual osteopathy had previously fallen under.  Manual Osteopath’s are now subject to charging GST/HST on services provided.  Our fees for provided services by a Manual Osteopath will now reflect the difference between of the new Federal and Provincial Tax Schedule. 

NEW MANUAL OSTEOPATHIC SERVICE FEESAS OF SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

SERVICE DESCRIPTION	FEE PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 17, 2020	NEW FEE AS OF SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
OSTEOPATHIC INITIAL CONSULTATION	$90.00	$110.00
OSTEOPATHIC TREATMENT	$60.00	$75.00
OSTEOPATHIC + SHOCKWAVE THERAPY	$70.00	$85.00
OSTEOPATHIC + COLD LASER + TAPE	$80.00	$95.00
OSTEOPATHIC + GAME READY	$70.00	$85.00
OSTEOPATHIC + COLD LASER	$70.00	$85.00
OSTEOPATHIC + IFC	$70.00	$85.00
OSTEOPATHIC + STIM	$70.00	$85.00
SHOCKWAVE THERAPY	$60.00	$75.00
SHOCKWAVE + IFC	$70.00	$75.00
COLD LASER	$45.00	$55.00
CONCUSSION ASSESSMENT	$60.00	$80.00
GAME READY	$45.00	$55.00
IFC	$45.00	$55.00
IONTOPHORESIS	$45.00	$55.00
MUSCLE STIMULATION	$45.00	$55.00
TAPING	$10.00	$15.00

In addition to the above, all medical items dispensed by a Manual Osteopath will be subject to GST/HST.

We apologize for the short notice and any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your understanding as this is out of our control.

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– SPENCER JEAN, DO, DO(MP), MBA

The clinic will be closed for holiday on the following dates:

• Thursday, July 30, 2020
• Friday, July 31, 2020
• Saturday, August 1, 2020
• Monday, August 3, 2020

If you need an appointment before or directly after these dates, please call our office an we will do our best to schedule you in a time frame which adheres to the covid-19 protocols.

Future Additional Dates Closed

• Saturday, August 8, 2020
• Thursday, August 20, 2020
• Friday, August 21, 2020
• Saturday, August 22, 2020

We apologize for any inconvience this may have on your treatment plans. Your practitioner will speak to you directly if this is the case and will do their best to accommodate you to ensure you do not fall behind on your treatment plans.

We, as healthcare professionals, we strive to provide a safe environment for our patients.

Our team has done an amazing job thus far in following the to date updating policies and procedures which are provided to us by our respective colleges, associations, societies, our local health unit and the Provincial Ministry of Health.

NEW UPDATES:

• As of JULY 7, 2020, all patients MUST be wearing a mask when entering the clinic unless you fall under the exemptions categories listed by the regional health unit.
• We have moved chairs and placed lines outside of our clinic to allow for physical distancing when the waiting room chairs are in use. If you see that there are no chairs available, please wait outside the office door in the respective line.
• More Plexiglass barriers are being installed on Friday July 10, 2020 in addition to the ones already installed at reception.
• Our practitioners are offering special appointment times for our HIGH RISK patients.
• Our colleges have indicated that reception and office staff may not have to wear masks while behind a protective barrier such as Plexiglass. Whenever our staff is not behind the barrier or are unable to social distance by 2m or 6ft, our staff will be wearing masks.

We will continue to update procedures and protocols as they are indicated to us and we will inform our patients as we receive updates.

We are confident in our team’s efforts to keep you safe and your mind at ease while providing the best quality healthcare that our patients are accustom.

To our patients,

Since the COVID-19 shutdown, our staff and practitioners have been working tirelessly to update our procedures and policies to allow for a safe environment for our patients. And because of our team’s efforts we are now back in the clinic accepting patients for in-person treatments and consultations during our regular clinic hours.

Please call our office to schedule your appointments for Osteopathy and Chiropractic at 519-735-7555.

Thank you and our team is eager to get you back on track with your health goals and needs!

Today, June 22 is World Osteopathy Day and in honor of it, we have compiled a brief history of the profession.

Osteopathic medicine was founded in 1874 by American physician, Dr Andrew Taylor Still.

Still was from an era where medicine was taught through lecture, and not clinical application. Fuelled by the loss of his three children to spinal meningitis and disapproval of harsh drugs and barbaric surgeries, Still dedicated himself to the study of health, illness and disease.

His intense desire to improve surgery, obstetrics and general medical practice led him to create an innovative new system of diagnosis and treatment. This treatment focussed heavily on causes, not symptoms, and highlighted the importance of understanding the human body and its mechanics as a whole.

His primary concerns were of both mental and physical disease, and restoring proper function and structure of the body. In addition, he fixated on the concept of health in its broadest sense, that is, being healthy and maintaining good health through nutrition and exercise, as well as emotional health.

From these principles, osteopathy was born.

Osteopathy is a compound of two Ancient Greek words – ‘osteon’ meaning bone, and ‘pathos’ meaning to respond to. This is because Still reasoned that the human skeleton was the starting point of any investigation of a pathological condition.

Once Still moved to Kirksville, Missouri, his dramatically successful treatments began to spread via newspaper and word of mouth. His practice grew rapidly, and so the need to teach others became more and more crucial. So, as a result of Still’s tireless work, in 1892 he opened the American School of Osteopathy.

Moving forward, Osteopathy developed 2 streams – Osteopathic Medicine (USA) and Manual Osteopathy (Canada, USA, Europe, etc.). The main difference between the 2 streams is that Osteopathic Medicine are Osteopathic Physicians which can specialize in all areas of medicine and perform surgeries just like an MD, where as Manual Osteopathy is based on the hands on practice of osteopathy.

For over 140 years the health profession of osteopathy has done so much to help people lead better quality lives, and it really does deserve a day of its own in recognition of its contribution to society across the world.

Happy World Osteopathy Day!

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Just a reminder that we are back in the clinic accepting patients for in-person consultations and treatments. We have made several changes to our policies, procedures and our office layout to do safely protect our patients, staff and practitioners.

For a full report on these updates, please refer to our previous post at https://spencerjeando.com/covid-19-update-4/

Call us today to schedule your appointment! 519-735-7555.