“Dr. Bergin at Chiromed Wellness Centers is the best chiropractor in town. I no longer have to take pain meds. If you still have pain, you’re not seeing to best chiropractor.”
Condition
Musculoskeletal Pain treatment
in Lakeland and The Villages, FL
Muscle, joint and tendon pain that moves around, changes character or never quite resolves. This is the page for people who do not yet know which box they belong in.
- 22 years in practice
- Doctor of Chiropractic led
- $47 new patient exam
- 22 years in practice
- $47 new-patient exam
Medically reviewed by Dr. Justin Bergin, DC Updated September 14, 2026
Quick summary
Musculoskeletal pain is pain arising from muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments or the structures that connect them. It covers everything from a stiff shoulder to widespread aching that has never been given a name. The first job is working out which structure is generating it. Dr. Justin Bergin examines you, names the source and routes you to the right plan across two Florida offices.
Understanding musculoskeletal pain
Musculoskeletal pain comes from the moving parts: muscle, joint, tendon, ligament, disc and the nerves that serve them. It is acute when it follows an event and persistent when it outlives the tissue healing that should have ended it. The source, not the location, decides treatment.
The trap in this category is that pain location and pain source are often different places. A shoulder can ache because of the neck. A knee can hurt because of a hip that stopped rotating. Buttock pain can come from the joint, the muscle or the nerve, and those three require different things. Persistent pain also changes over time: the tissue quietens but the nervous system stays sensitised, so movement that should be comfortable still registers as threatening. That is why an examination that only presses on the sore spot misses so much. Pain is also not an inevitable part of getting older, whatever you have been told.
Some people arrive knowing exactly what hurts. Others arrive with a shoulder that aches, a hip that has started clicking and a lower back that flares every few weeks, and no idea whether those three things are one problem or three. That second group is who this page is for. Being told nothing structural is wrong is not the same as being told what is wrong, and it is not a treatment plan. Musculoskeletal pain is common, it is not a diagnosis by itself, and it responds much better once someone has actually decided which tissue is producing it. Dr. Justin Bergin has spent 22 years doing exactly that decision work: examining, testing, narrowing, and then saying out loud what the problem is. Evaluations run at the Lakeland office on South Florida Avenue and at the Lady Lake office that serves The Villages, and both run the same lineup of care.
Independent background: Pain: You Can Get Help, National Institute on Aging.
Symptoms
Most people recognise their own version somewhere in this list. Each one maps to a specific finding the examination checks for.
- Aching that moves between regions
- Stiffness that is worst after sitting
- Pain that flares every few weeks
- Reduced range in a shoulder or hip
- Clicking or grinding with movement
- Muscle tightness that never releases
- Tenderness spread over several areas
- Disturbed sleep because of positional pain
- Fatigue from bracing against pain
Common causes
Joint restriction and altered movement
When one joint stops moving through its full range, the joints either side take up the slack. The restricted joint is often silent and the compensating joint is the one that hurts.
Muscle overload and guarding
Muscle permanently braced against a painful joint becomes painful itself. Trigger points and dense, non-releasing tissue then refer symptoms elsewhere, and the picture gets harder to read.
Degenerative change in the joints
Wear becomes more common with age and with past injury. It is not automatically the cause of your pain, and plenty of people have imaging changes with no symptoms, which is why examination outranks a scan.
Posture and occupational loading
Sustained positions, whether a desk, a truck cab or hours in a golf cart, load the same structures every day. The tissue does not object until it does, usually after a small extra demand.
Sensitisation after a long painful period
Where pain has been present for months, the nervous system becomes more efficient at producing it. That does not mean it is imagined. It means the plan has to address movement tolerance too.
How we treat musculoskeletal pain in Lakeland and The Villages
We work out which structure is generating the pain, then treat it directly. Adjustments restore movement to restricted joints, manual soft tissue work releases the muscle that has been compensating, and Omniwave shockwave is added where a specific structure has stopped responding to hands-on care alone.
Chiropractic assessment and adjustment
The examination decides the plan. Where joints are restricted, adjustment restores movement so the surrounding tissue stops compensating. This is the insurance-billed part of the practice, and our team verifies your benefits before your first visit.
Soft tissue work on the muscle that has been guarding
Hands on and instrument assisted techniques target the dense, tender tissue that builds up around a painful joint. Releasing it is often what makes an adjustment hold rather than unwind within a day.
Omniwave shockwave for a structure that has stalled
Where one specific structure has been painful for months and has not shifted with manual care, Omniwave delivers acoustic pressure waves into it through the skin. It is a cash-pay addition and it is recommended for a named target, never applied broadly.
What recovery usually looks like
Working out the source Your first visit
History, movement testing, orthopaedic and neurological screening, and imaging where it would change the plan. You leave with a named source rather than a general label.
Reducing the loudest problem The opening block of care
Attention goes to whichever structure is generating the most symptoms. Multi-region cases almost always simplify once the dominant driver quietens.
Working through what is left As care continues
Secondary areas are addressed in order. This is where a multi-site problem resolves into one clear issue or reveals itself as something needing a different specialist.
Holding the gain Ongoing
Movement, loading and the handful of daily habits that keep bringing it back. Some people need occasional maintenance visits and some do not.
When to seek care sooner
What to try at home first: keep moving within comfort, since prolonged rest stiffens joints and deconditions muscle. Alternate positions rather than holding one. Use heat for stiffness and ice for a fresh flare. Walk daily, even briefly. Address sleep position, because a large share of morning shoulder and hip pain is postural. See someone urgently if pain follows a significant fall or collision, if you develop unexplained weight loss or night sweats, if there is fever with spinal pain, if you notice progressive weakness in a limb, if there is any change in bowel or bladder control, or if pain wakes you every night and never varies with position.
Red-flag findings belong with a physician, promptly, and not with conservative care alone.
Cost, insurance and financing
The cost of a plan tracks the complexity of the problem. One restricted joint and a four-region pain pattern of two years standing are not the same piece of work.
The one published price
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47
What moves the cost
- How many regions are involved
- Whether the problem is recent or long standing
- Whether a device protocol such as shockwave is added
What a course includes
- The consultation, examination and report of findings
- Reassessment at intervals through the plan
- An honest referral where the problem is not ours to treat
Payment: Chiropractic care bills insurance and our team verifies your benefits before your first visit. Shockwave and the wider regenerative line are cash pay, said up front rather than at the desk afterwards. Medicare coverage varies by plan and by service, and our front desk will tell you what applies before you commit to anything. New patients start with a consultation, exam, x-rays if needed and report of findings for only $47.
Who you would be seeing
Dr. Justin Bergin, DC is 22 years into practice and has built the examination, not the treatment, into the centre of how this clinic works. Widespread or shifting pain is the category most likely to be waved through elsewhere with a general label, and it is the category where naming the actual source changes everything. He performs the evaluation personally at both offices. Medically reviewed by Dr. Justin Bergin, DC.
Dr. Justin Bergin, DC, 22 years in practice, performs the examination personally and explains the findings before any program starts. Lakeland: 6595 Florida Ave S, Suite 13, Lakeland. The Villages market office: 929 US-441 #404, Lady Lake. Both offices run the same program.
Getting to us
Patients reach the Lakeland office at 6595 Florida Ave S, Suite 13 from Dixieland, Cleveland Heights, Grasslands, Lakeside Village and the Harden Blvd corridor, with the Polk Parkway making the run from the east side straightforward. Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center sits about fifteen minutes north. The Lady Lake office at 929 US-441 #404 is just north of CR 466 and draws from The Villages, Leesburg, Fruitland Park and Summerfield, close enough to Spanish Springs Town Square to make a morning appointment easy to fit around the rest of the day.
Browse every condition on the conditions we treat index.
Options compared, honestly
This is treated very differently depending on who you walk in to see. Here is the full set, including the options this practice does not provide.
| Criteria | Our approachOffered at ChiroMed? | Option | What it is | Typically considered when | Invasive? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiropractic adjustment | Yes | Manual restoration of movement to a restricted joint | Examination finds joint restriction driving the pattern | No | |
| Soft tissue therapy | Yes | Hands on and tool assisted release of muscle and fascia | Muscle guarding is holding the problem in place | No | |
| Omniwave shockwave therapy | Yes | Acoustic pressure waves applied to one named structure | A single structure has stalled despite manual care | No | |
| Prescription pain medication | Not performed here. Appropriate when a physician judges short term medication necessary to restore sleep and function. | Oral medication prescribed to reduce pain or muscle spasm | Pain is blocking sleep and basic daily function | No | |
| Steroid or nerve-root injection | Not performed here. Appropriate when conservative care has failed and imaging identifies a specific target. | An injection placed at a specific joint or nerve under guidance | Symptoms are severe and localised to one confirmed structure | Minimally |
Nothing above is a rival to the others. Most people do best with the least invasive option that actually addresses their source, and part of the first visit is saying honestly whether that is us or somebody else.
What to expect
From evaluation to a plan for your musculoskeletal pain
A course, not a single visit. The examination decides the length and the cost, and both are written down first.
- 01
Evaluation
Orthopedic and neurological testing, with imaging on site where it changes the plan.
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02Findings, in plain language
What the examination actually found, and honestly whether this is a case conservative care can help at all.
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03A written program
Which disciplines, how many visits, over what period, and what it costs. Decided before anything begins.
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04Reassessment as it runs
Function is re-measured through the course. If the response says the plan should change, it changes.
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Find out what is actually driving it before choosing a program.
“I have had sich a great experience seeing Dr. Bergin. When other offices have told me I just had muscle damage or the only thing they could do for me was give shots, he said he had others ways to manage my pain and numbness, along with improving mobility. And he was right! I feel so much better!”
“I have had pain in my right upper back quadrant by my shoulder blade for at least a year now and the doctors have been unsuccessful in making the pain go away. I came to Dr. Bergin looking for some help. Within 3 to 4 weeks. My pain in that area is completely gone.”
“Dr. Bergin is phenomenal. Chronic lower back issues led a different doctor to mention back surgery to me. That was not an option I wanted to entertain. After a consult with Dr. B, he was confident that he could help resolve my back issues. I’ve been seeing him weekly to resolve the issue, and I am so pleased with the results so far! More mobility, less pain, and a great customer experience.”
“I bless the day that Dr. Bergin started working on me. I have had long standing pain for so long. After just a few visits my pain left and I feel so good. He is very patient oriented and caring. I regard him highly.”
“Dr. Bergin was instrumental in relieving my back pain which I had for many years. The techniques he used on relieving my back pain were impressive. I been going to chiropractors for years and Dr. Bergin is the best.”
Get in touch
Schedule your musculoskeletal pain evaluation
Tell us what you are feeling and which office is closer. A member of the ChiroMed team follows up within one business day.
- 1
Send the form
Two minutes. Tell us what hurts and which office is closer.
- 2
We call you back
A real person, within one business day, to find a time that works.
- 3
Exam and answers
History, orthopedic and neurological testing, imaging on site when it changes the plan.
- $47 consultation, exam, X-rays if needed and report of findings
- Payment plans available on the self-pay programs
- 4.8 out of 5 from 225 Google reviews
- Choose Lakeland or The Villages on the form
Musculoskeletal Pain questions
Tap a message for the honest answer. Call Lakeland (863) 940-3444
What is the difference between pain management and pain clinic?
In practice, pain management usually describes the medical approach: medication, injections and procedures aimed at controlling symptoms. A pain control clinic can mean either. This is a chiropractic and rehabilitation practice, so the work is manual, device assisted and movement based, and nothing is prescribed or injected here.
the clinic teamDo you need a referral to go to a pain management clinic?
Not here. You can book an evaluation directly at either office. If your plan or your physician wants a referral on file for their own records, our team will help you sort that out, but nothing about starting care depends on it.
the clinic teamWhy do doctors discourage chiropractors?
Some do and many do not. Where the caution is genuine it usually concerns cases that were adjusted without being properly screened first. That is why the examination here includes orthopaedic and neurological screening, and why some people are told plainly that adjustment is not the right answer for them.
the clinic teamWhat is a red flag in chiropractic?
Findings that point away from a mechanical problem: unexplained weight loss, fever with spinal pain, progressive limb weakness, changes in bowel or bladder control, night pain that never varies with position, or pain following significant trauma. Any of these should be medically assessed first, and we refer rather than treat.
the clinic teamDoes everything have to be one diagnosis?
No, and assuming so causes problems. It is very common to have a genuine primary driver plus two or three secondary areas that are compensating. We treat them in order of importance rather than pretending a single label explains all of it.
the clinic teamWhat is the average cost of a chiropractic adjustment in Florida?
Prices vary widely by practice, region and whether insurance is involved, so any single figure would mislead you. What we can be specific about is our own entry point: a consultation, exam, x-rays if needed and report of findings for $47, with the rest of the plan explained before it starts.
the clinic teamSame-week appointments
Start with an examination, not a package.
Find out what is actually driving it before choosing a program.
- 4.8 out of 5 on Google
- $47 consultation, exam and report
- 22 years in practice
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47