When you first see your chiropractor, you will probably ask “how often do I need to come?”
Often the answer people want to hear is ‘once’ but chiropractic care, like most
things that are really good for us, rarely makes a long-term difference to your
health and wellness after just one visit
The 1,000th straw that breaks the camel’s back
A problem can build up day after day as you sit hunched over your desk, or bend
and twist as you lift, or tense up as you deal with your daily stress, and then one
day, you bend to tie your shoelaces and all of a sudden something hurts! You can
rest assured that tying your shoelaces isn’t what caused the problem - it’s simply the
thousandth straw that broke the camel’s back (or was too much for your back) and
that’s why you’re in pain.
The more often you get adjusted, the better the results you enjoy
How often do you need to be checked by your chiropractor? Everybody is different, so your chiropractor will be guided by their clinical experience, and what your goals are when they recommend a care plan for you
What does the research show
An American research study suggests that in the early stages of chiropractic care, the more often you get adjusted, the better the results you enjoy. The study looked at 256 people who had chronic, regular headaches and divided them into groups who either received chiropractic care once a week, or twice a week, or three times a week, for up to six weeks, or they received no chiropractic care at all and instead were given light massages over the same 6-week period. Previous studies have shown that people with this kind of headache often respond well to chiropractic care. They looked at how many days a week a patient suffered from headaches at the end of the study and whether any changes in headache frequency between the groups were still there up to one year later. What they found was that the patients who were seen by their chiropractor most regularly, so up to three times a week, had fewer headaches than those who were seen once or twice a week, and they were much better than the patients who received no chiropractic care at all. In fact, after one year, the patients that had been seen three times a week had over three fewer
headaches per month compared to the patients who only received a light massage.
This study was done in people with chronic headaches, so we can’t be sure if the same differences occur in people with other problems who see a chiropractor. A similar study in patients with chronic low back pain did find that people who were adjusted more often had the best results. What these studies suggest is that seeing a
chiropractor more often when you begin care has real, beneficial, long-term effects to the way your spine and nervous system works, but how much you benefit may depend on what’s wrong with your spine when you begin care. So, when you go and see your chiropractor, know that their recommendations for your plan of care are based on what their clinical experience tells them is best for you, and that the research suggests more frequent adjustments has the biggest positive impact on your health and wellness
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