One of the common myths about chiropractic care is that once you have seen a chiropractor once, you have to keep going forever.
This is not true – most chiropractors will provide you with a personalized course of care and therapy (which may sometimes involve other therapies such as massage or therapeutic exercise) designed to restore you to pain-free health. Once that course is over, there is technically no need to return to the chiropractor unless you are injured again or develop a chronic condition.
However, many of our patients do choose to continue periodic visits and adjustments – what we call “maintenance care.”
One obvious advantage of coming in for maintenance care is that we can often find problems before they start to show symptoms. We can also help you work on strengthening areas that are prone to injury to prevent recurrence, and teach you how to improve your posture, especially when sitting for long periods. We can advise on ergonomic improvements and how to sleep better, whilst working on issues that can develop from compromised posture. These include repetitive strain syndromes such as carpal tunnel. In other words, maintenance care will keep you in tune with your body, strengthen your problem areas and find issues before they become pain.
Also, a lot of our patients have been “abnormal” for years before their first visit and think that being crooked or in need of adjustment is, in fact, being normal and healthy. Once you have experienced actual balance and straightness, you probably won’t want to go back to how you felt before.
So, how often should you come in for a “tune up”? Once a month is common, but it depends on you, your lifestyle and needs. You should talk to us about the best schedule to optimize your health and ensure that the problem that brought you into our office in the first place does not come back.
Call Sandstone or schedule your comprehensive exam with x-rays online and talk about the maintenance care schedule that is right for you.
