How often should you see your chiropractor?
Our answer is “It depends…” Chiropractic care is personalized to your needs. You are unique, and your care plan should be tailored to the unique you.
Everyone is different, with different health goals, work activities and oh, my – different levels of stress. How our daily lives affect us can give rise to health concerns, from the small ache to the enormous dysfunction. How we approach our fitness, our nutrition and how we deal with stress contribute to our conditions. Our medical history can often give information that requires additional techniques or other changes to care. This leads to modifications of your care plan, with longer or shorter timeframes and frequency of visits..
So, is there an answer? Of course. When you present for an exam and treatment, we go over your current complaint(s) – why you are seeking care. We ask for your medical history including surgeries, illnesses you have had and any current issues. Your family, social histories and exercise regimen play a part also as does your nutrition and water intake.
Everything plays a role in determining the best care plan we can provide for you. After that determination, we go over your plan with you to agree on how often you need to present for treatment.
You might need intensive treatment (2-3 times a week for a short time) or less involved chiropractic sessions. If you are in generally good shape with no major complaints, once a month or every 6 weeks may be all you need to keep your spine aligned and significant problems at bay.
Maintaining your health, spinal and otherwise, is SO important to your quality of life. There are general guidelines for care that we take into consideration when determining the need for more or fewer visits. Let’s look at some factors informing what goes into the decision:
Why Chiropractic In The First Place?
Chiropractic adjustments for pain – headache, low back, neck, or any other area with pain – is one of the most common reasons people seek care from a Chiropractic office. Chiropractors treat multiple conditions for multiple reasons though and perhaps conditions you might not realize CAN be treated with chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care can help more than pain relief. We are one of the original proponents of looking at your condition, your body, your ‘self’ as a whole, not just treat the pain (a symptom). We do our best to find and help correct the underlying condition or reason your symptoms occurred in the first place. If that condition or reason is not dealt with, your condition is likely to recur, and we – like you – do not want that to happen.
Of course, re-injury, picking up that log, playing with the kids jumping on the trampoline, working too long, lack of sleep and required ADL’s (Activities of Daily Living) at home and at your job can cause conditions to recur, but the better we help you heal, the better your body can deal with those stressors and the longer you can go without injury! Even if you do re-injure, perhaps heal faster.
This is probably a good place to let you know chiropractic (and all other medical practices) do not heal anything, chiropractic helps correct nervous system restrictions and bone, muscle, ligament, and tendon dysfunctions so you can heal yourself, from within.
We also educate our patients on healthy habits – exercise, eating right, getting enough sleep, driving and sitting position (and other ergonomics) and so on. Things you can do at home and in your everyday life. By following some of these recommendations, you can extend the benefits of chiropractic between your visits.
How Often Then?
Chiropractic care is not a one-size-fits all approach to health care (although there are some practitioners that try to do that). We customize each care plan specific to you, for your unique physiology. Remember, your examination is SO important to develop the care plan that’s right for you!
We’ve all heard the stories of offices that want you to come in 3-4 times a week for 10 weeks, right? That can be necessary, especially after trauma like a car wreck for example (whiplash, ribs, shoulders, etc.) Or in cases of severe pain and sudden onset. In most cases when you have minor aches and pains, one or two visits a week for 2-4 weeks can get your body back on track, restore functional movement and capability, increase mobility, and reduce your pain.
Your body, in its present state, no matter what that state is, is your bodies ‘normal’. When we work on your body, we make changes that are not always recognized – a ‘NEW normal’. Sometimes the body wants to revert to the old ‘normal’, putting you back in the same place – with the pain, dysfunction and poor posture you started with. That’s why we might recommend 4-10 visits – it makes adjustment changes more permanent, so you can heal – and get to that ‘new normal’ – the healthier you.
What about injuries and conditions that Chiropractic cannot treat? Of course, there are times when Chiropractic care is not recommended, where you need a different intervention. We are trained to look at all aspects of your condition and refer to another office if warranted. We may co-treat during your care, to make sure the additional stresses imposed don’t set you back.
How often for maintenance care?
When your body has healed to the best of its ability and further healing is not likely, that is considered (by insurance companies) as MMI – Maximum Medical Improvement. But that’s what the insurance industry calls it. We call it “Your new starting point.” Additional visits can continue to increase your healthy state, and are called “maintenance care”. Chiropractic excels at increasing your enjoyment – your quality – of life. It often helps prevent chronic disease and can slow down the progression of age-related conditions like arthritis. Maintenance care helps you “maintain” the reduced pain and increases in function and Range of Motion you achieved during acute care, reduce the possibility of re-injury and keeping pain in check.
Just like your acute care, your maintenance care plan is designed for you, so the amount of time between visits for one patient on maintenance might be more or less than another patient. On average though, maintenance care visits are once a month up to a couple of months apart.
Many patients find having a flexible maintenance schedule increases their enjoyment of life and allows them to schedule a ‘tune-up’ before a vacation, or before starting, or ending, a strenuous activity. Many patients that also receive massage find it beneficial to have a chiropractic adjustment appointment prior to the massage session, so everything is ‘in line’ and the massage relaxes your body into that ‘new you’ state!
This is a good place to mention that some insurance companies, like Medicare, do NOT cover maintenance care, and you would be responsible for the full cost of maintenance care appointments. We will let you know if maintenance care is covered or not when you reach that stage. Also of note – if you re-injure yourself or have a new condition, you are back in the acute care phase of care.
Final thoughts:
Three times in a week is the general norm for treating acute injury or new conditions, however, your condition and your response to care (improvement in function and range of motion, day to day enjoyment of life, reduction of pain, etc.) determine the need for either more or less frequent visits.
If you want to discover more about a chiropractic lifestyle, check out additional articles on our website: https://armourchiro.com. And when you’re ready to have a chiropractic treatment plan that works with you, give us a call at (913) 294-9993 or book your intake appointment online at https://armourchiro.janeapp.com. We look forward to serving your healthcare needs!