What to Expect

Dr. Yanuck’s diagnostic approach brings together many elements, integrating them into a single, unified approach. Each patient is unique, so Dr. Yanuck will tailor the diagnosis and treatment process to emphasize those diagnostic and therapeutic elements that best fit your needs.

The History
Dr. Yanuck will listen to you describe your problem, and gather information designed to uncover the specific details of your case, setting the stage for addressing your unique healing needs. The history will center on the specific problems you want Dr. Yanuck to help you resolve, and will also take into account all the details of your past history, as well as information about other symptoms that you may so far have thought were unrelated, or that have gone unnoticed until he asks about them. Dr. Yanuck takes considerable time in listening to your impressions and asking detailed questions, harvesting the diagnostic clues that may be hidden in seemingly unimportant details. Using the information from your history, Dr. Yanuck is often able to identify key elements that lead to resolution of your problem.

Neurological Examination
Dr. Yanuck will conduct a detailed neurological examination. Because the nervous system controls all other functions of the body, neurological examination often plays a key roll in identifying subtle changes that impact the rest of the body.

Research during the past two decades has made it clear that the nervous system and the immune system are interwoven into a single, more encompassing "neuroimmune" system. Immune function is in many ways modulated by nervous system function, so correcting changes in neurological function can have a profoundly balancing effect on your immune system. Dr. Yanuck spends considerable time in studying the relationship between neurological and immunological functions, to ensure that his approach to your treatment is up to date with current research in neuroimmunology. 

Changes in neurological control of pain regulation and the control of muscle and joint movement are often at the root of persistent pain syndromes, from headaches to back and neck pain, to persistent injuries.

Identifying and correcting problems in neuroendocrine function (the nervous system’s control of the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries, or testes) are often the key to correcting chronic fatigue, immune dysregulation, hypertension, mood disorders, and hormonal problems.

Digestive function can be significantly altered by correcting changes in neurological control of the intestines. Making these corrections also enhances the assimilation of nutrients from food through the digestive process, improving a host of other functions the body performs that depend upon adequate nutrition. Many people who are careful with their diets still have nutritional problems because their intestines are not working optimally. Correcting the nervous system’s control of intestinal function greatly improves their nutritional status.

Chiropractic Examination
The chiropractic examination is a structural examination of the body, focusing especially on any areas of pain or dysfunction that may be involved in your problem, including an analysis of posture, patterns of movement, and the strength or weakness of particular muscles whose support is required for proper function of the area of the body with which you’re having trouble. The chiropractic exam dovetails with the neurological exam, since all movement of muscles, joints, and other structures is under neurological control. The combination of these two exams often allows Dr. Yanuck to identify key problems that are at the root of your problem, but have so far gone unnoticed.

Acupuncture Meridian Exam
For examination of your acupuncture meridian system, Dr. Yanuck employs Ryodoraku, also known as electronic meridian imaging. This is a simple device that measures the extent of electrical activity in the soft tissues (skin, muscle, etc.) of the acupuncture points. It is a non-painful, non-invasive procedure, which involves touching the skin of specific points on your arms and legs, to see how much electrical activity is already there (none is introduced).

Some problems, especially those that have defied diagnosis or persisted despite good treatment, can have their roots in imbalances in your acupuncture meridian system. Identifying and correcting these imbalances is often a key element in understanding and resolving your problem. Dr. Yanuck does not use needles in his practice, preferring to stimulate acupuncture points, when necessary, with gentle tapping or fingertip pressure, which is called acupressure.

Nutritional Assessment
A key feature of Dr. Yanuck’s history-taking process is the nutritional assessment. For many patients, imbalances in body chemistry are at the root of their problems. Crucial clues often emerge in the nutritional assessment about the need for key nutritional factors to restore the balance in your body chemistry. Proper body chemistry balance is required for your body's normal ability to make energy, to reduce inflammation, to suppress autoimmune responses, to build muscle, to repair injuries, to mobilize a suppressed immune system, to balance your hormones, to detoxify your system, and to perform every other function in your body. Because your body chemistry affects every cell in your body, every kind of problem, from your skin to your organs and everywhere in between, can be affected by changes in your body chemistry. And just as problems can be caused by body chemistry imbalances, they can be resolved by resolving those imbalances.

The body chemistry is influenced by the food you eat, the vitamins, minerals, herbs, or medications you might take, by your stress level, by your style of exercise (or lack of exercise), and a host of other factors. Dr. Yanuck will examine all these elements, to determine any imbalances that may be present, and recommend corrections to bring about their resolution.

Physical Exam
As appropriate, Dr. Yanuck will incorporate elements of the standard physical examination such as listening to your heart and lungs or checking vision or hearing, to help identify factors that may be contributing to your problem. Difficult problems often require the ability to make observations from both conventional and complementary medicine points of view. Incorporating physical exam, laboratory, and other conventional  approaches along with complementary medicine methods can be crucial to achieving a successful outcome.

Laboratory Tests
Dr. Yanuck routinely recommends specific laboratory tests, according to the specific needs of your case. Dr. Yanuck maintains consulting relationships with the directors of several specialty laboratories, and elicits their input in cases in which unusual laboratory findings are identified. This provides you a broader base of clinical experience that contributes to the understanding of your case.

Immune System Assessment
Immunological assessment is a key step in understanding each patient’s unique matrix of factors. For patients with autoimmune disease, these factors are at the heart of the assessment. Dr. Yanuck uses several methods, including laboratory tests, neurological assessment, history, nutritional challenges, and several other approaches to understand each patient’s immunological balance. The results of the immunological assessment inform Dr. Yanuck’s decisions about treatment in key ways, contributing important information to the support of normal function for patients with autoimmune disease and those without specific autoimmune concerns.

Inflammation is driven by immune system activation. Virtually all diseases have an inflammatory component, including heart disease, many cancers, diabetes, dementia and a host of others. Understanding and addressing the details of your immune system balance are crucial components of successfully attending to your health, both now and in the long run.

Diagnosis
The goal of the diagnostic process is to identify the key causes of your problem. This may seem obvious, but unfortunately what passes for the diagnostic process in many doctors’ offices is simply labeling your problem with a name. It is not enough to name what your problem is. You have to get past the name to the specific, unique set of causes. Once you have done that, you can address each causal element with the treatment tool that matches it best. Indeed, the diagnostic name is only useful if it helps you decide what to do for treatment.

• Diagnosis in Functional Illness
  If you have a functional disorder, you have declining function for which there is no underlying disease. Problems like headache, fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, digestive disorders, insomnia and other such problems are often in this category. For example, it may not be enough to tell you that you have "irritable bowel syndrome." It may be more important to identify the specific causes, which are different from one irritable bowel syndrome patient to the next. The same is true with chronic pain. If you have chronic shoulder pain, you may have been told that it is "tendinitis." But that doesn’t tell you why the tendons of the shoulder have become irritated, or why they have stayed that way. This, too, will be different in different people.

  It is crucial to identify the specific, unique set of causes of your problem, rather than just applying the treatment that is "standard" for that diagnosis. Fifty hypothyroid patients can have fifty different, unique sets of causes for their different cases of hypothyroidism. If you treat every hypothyroid patient the same way, some will improve, but most will not. The ones that don’t are the ones for whom the "standard" treatment wasn’t the right match for the unique set of causes driving each of their versions of hypothyroidism.

  The same is true for migraine, hormonal problems, fatigue, digestive disorders, and the whole range of functional disorders. Dr. Yanuck’s approach to diagnosis brings together elements from several different diagnostic approaches, to ensure that each of the unique causal elements driving your problems are identified and matched to the correct treatment elements, to create a truly integrated diagnosis and treatment process.

• Diagnosis in Specific Diseases
  Dr. Yanuck treats patients who have specific diseases like Hashimoto's, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other such illnesses in conjunction with their mainstream care, with the goal of identifying and correcting specific imbalances in immune function, neurological function, body chemistry, and acupuncture meridian system function that may be contributing to the disease process, or may simply be preventing the body from fighting the disease most effectively. When your body is brought to its most optimal level of function, you have the best chance at a good outcome overall.

Treatment
Your treatment is tailored specifically to the causes Dr. Yanuck identifies in the diagnostic workup. Each patient’s treatment is a combination of elements, each one matched to a specific cause of your problem. For example, if the diagnostic workup shows that your problem is caused by six different factors, five of which are related to your body chemistry, the majority of your treatment will involve changes in your body chemistry (dietary changes, nutritional factors, etc.). The other factors identified will be treated with methods that match them best.

If your diagnostic workup shows that your problem is caused by two factors, both of which are acupuncture meridian system imbalances, your treatment will consist of primarily of acupoint stimulation (without needles) appropriate to restoring balance in those meridians.

If your diagnostic workup reveals that the core of your problem is neurological, you will be treated with chiropractic adjustments and gentle cranial therapy, and given home exercises that stimulate the part of the nervous system that needs support.

For most people, treatment involves some combination of elements from several different treatment approaches, including neurology, body chemistry, acupuncture meridian treatment, kinesiology, dietary changes, exercise prescription, and a host of other approaches. These approaches are integrated together into a single working whole, with each treatment element reinforcing the rest, and enhancing the therapeutic value of the whole.

Indeed, the key to Dr. Yanuck’s success is that he never treats any two patients the same way. Therapeutic elements are always tailored to the specific pattern of diagnostic findings in each patient, and blended together into a powerful working system to resolve your specific problem.

The details of your problem are important. The pattern of causes for your problem is unique. The pattern of your treatment should be, too.