What to Expect

Laying the foundation

Chiropractic care is like building a house – certain things have to happen in a particular order in order for everything to stand strong and work correctly. When building a house, if you tried to put up your walls before you had a solid foundation, your walls would be weak and eventually collapse. If you tried to put on your roof before the walls were ready, you would run into the same problem. The same is true for your body. Your body has to go through a particular plan of care in order to repair itself correctly and fully. There are three general phases of chiropractic care . . .

Phase 1: Initial Intensive Care

The first objective is to stop spinal damage from progressing.  This phase will help remove interference from the nervous system by correcting alignment.  By keeping pressure off the nerves with frequent adjustments, your body will shift from getting worse and your health declining, to finally starting to heal problems and move towards health.  Muscles and ligaments are used to the alignemtn you were in for years or decades before starting your care so they often pull your spine out of normal alignment.  This is why adjustments must be frequent to keep pressure off of nerves.  Depending on the severity of your problem, it is typical to need care 2-3 times per week for 4-12 weeks.

Phase 2: Corrective/Restorative Care

During the corrective care phase, deeper layers of the problem and damage are allowed to heal more completely, thereby helping prevent injury.  Muscles and ligament damage will start to repair and they will be retrained to help hold normal alignment rather than pulling your spine out of alignment as they were in the first phase of care.  This phase is when we introduce home exercises and stretches that will help your spine heal and recover faster.  It is typical to need care 4-8 times per month for 6-24 months, depending on your overall health, the amount of structural damage, and the severity of your problem.

Phase 3: Wellness Care

Once your body has fully healed, it is important to maintain normal alignment!  If we lived a hunter gatherer type lifestyle we would maintain alignment well due to low amounts of postural stresses, chemical and emotional stresses.  We don't live like that so it is necessary to have regular chiropractic adjustments to correct misalignments as they happen, before they are having an impact on your health and function.  This avoids health problems in the future.  Many studies have shown that regular "wellness" care results in higher levels of health and function.  One study showed that after two weeks of misalignment there were scar tissue changes, some that were not reversible!  That is one reason why your chiropractor will recommend a specific frequency of care for each individual so we know we are on top of your health.  You need to get checked as often as your chiropractor is recommending to expect great results.  Usually, this only requires a quick visit to the chiropractor 1-4 times per month, based on your lifestyle and goals.