Patient Guidance

Updated: 02/15/2024

This section is for patients and prospective patient information regarding our procedures here at Manchester Bedford Myoskeletal. Click on the drop down menu above. You’ll be able to view general information about the type of bodywork our clinic focuses on, find answers to some of your questions, download office forms, and learn what to expect during your visits. You may find our FAQ page helpful.

Becoming a Patient

Before becoming a patient here at MBM, our Master Myoskeletal Therapist will conduct a telephone consultation with you to learn about your musculoskeletal concerns. He’s also screening your condition for our type of bodywork and possible contraindications. Occasionally, a referral to another provider or type of bodyworker may prove advantageous for your complaint. We may refer patients to their own or another physician. When indicated, we will make an appointment for you to come in for your assessment while you are on the phone with the therapist. Alternatively, you may schedule it yourself at your convenience.

If you do not feel comfortable filling out the necessary information on the online scheduler, please use the Contact Form in this website to request a telephone consultation or call (603) 622-1112 to set up a consultation. Consults may take up to 15 minutes for us to collect sufficient information 25 minutes for complicated concerns. We apologize if we are unable to answer your call immediately. However, we’ll return your call as soon as possible.

Appointments

We have several ways to set up your appointment. The easiest method is by using our online scheduler. Use the Schedule Appointment button feature in the right side panel of any page of our website for your convenience. If you choose to use this method, you’ll need to fill in all relevant information including a valid email address.

New non-veteran patients please schedule “New Patient Assessment” under the Evaluations section regardless of the complaint. New VA referred patients please schedule “Veteran Initial Visit” under the VA & Insurance Visits section.

Your First Visit

We are open by appointment only. No walk-ins, please.

Please Arrive Early — Plan to arrive at the clinic at least 15 minutes prior to your appointment to fill out the appropriate health and permission forms. Alternatively, you may print the appropriate forms (PDF format) and fill them out at home. (VA-referred veterans will have their forms emailed to them in their Welcome letter.) Please bring the completed forms with you at the time of your first visit. These forms must be on file prior to the initial assessment. If you choose not to fill out these forms at home, you’ll have the opportunity to fill them out by hand when you arrive for your appointment.

Be sure to note on the diagram any scars you may have, no matter how small or how old they may be!

If you want us to file health insurance claims on your behalf, please bring your insurance card and present it with your clinic intake paperwork. Formal referrals from physicians usually contain all the information we need. If not, we may require additional information from your physician’s office and we will require you to file a Personal Health Information request form with us to allow your doctor’s office to provide the required information we will need to file claims for you.

Please Bring Diagnostic Information — All first-time patients will have an in-person interview with the therapist. During this time, you have the opportunity to discuss your musculoskeletal health concerns, treatment goals, health history, and any referral matters. If you have any diagnostic information relevant to your visit such as radiology reports, X rays, CT scans, MRI or MRE imaging, EMG results, prescription, physical therapy protocols currently or recently followed, etc., please bring them with you or ask your physician to forward them to us via fax or regular mail prior to your appointment. Please do not forward private or Personal Health Information (PHI) via email as that method is not secure.

The Consultation— The extensive interview will give the therapist the chance to ask many questions about your lifestyle, activities you participate in, type of work you do, injuries, health history, current medications and/or physician treatment integration. The reason your therapist needs to understand the very large picture that is your life is to help narrow down what brought you to your current health state, and to derive hints of where causes of your trouble may stem from. Every life has a story to tell. The more information we have, the more complete a picture becomes. Be sure to ask any questions you may have.

Assessments — Patients will then undergo an MAT exam and evaluation process. The therapist will have the patient go through a variety of postures and movements to assess function, range of motion limitations, muscle and fascia tonicity, test specific pain patterns, etc. We may check the nerve communication between the motor control center of your brain and muscle patterns. This is looking for dysfunctional neural compensation patterns which may have led to muscle pain, restriction, or other dysfunction.

We may offer a first therapeutic treatment to address your chief complaint during this first visit if time allows. However, the purpose of the initial visit is to make a full body assessment only to determine a treatment plan. We do not treat without a plan, and we do not chase pain. Pain is most often only a symptom and we’re looking for cause.

Minors

We see patients of any cognitive age, generally 10 and up. If the patient is a minor, a parent or guardian must attend the initial assessment with the minor. After the first treatment visit, parent may choose to remain in the waiting area instead. A parent/guardian must make all appointments for a minor patient. In addition to parent/guardian’s consent, minor patients must also agree to treatment. The therapist will ask the minor directly before the exam or therapy begins. We encourage parents and minor patients to ask any questions they may have. Visits terminate without prejudice when a minor patient does not agree to an evaluation or treatment. However, the parent will be responsible for the office visit charge.