How often will I be adjusted?

One of the big hurdles people face when they start going to the chiropractor is the notion that once you start getting adjusted, you will have to go for the rest of your life. Let us reassure you right away by saying that this is not the case! That being said, it is helpful to understand what chiropractors are doing and why it can sometimes challenge our preconceived notions of healthcare.

We have all grown up in a healthcare model where symptoms are the problem and relief of those symptoms is the goal. Have a headache? Take a painkiller. Have swelling? Take anti-inflammatories. Have a muscle spasm? Take a muscle relaxant. You get the idea. When we encounter a healthcare model that has a different focus, this can be quite a challenge, as it often involves a little more time and patience. In contrast to the symptom-relieving model of traditional healthcare, chiropractors are interested in why you have a headache, what is causing that swelling and why your muscles are in spasm. By addressing the underlying cause of that symptom, it is more likely to heal and resolve completely, rather than simply disappearing for a few hours or days.

Most people who come to see a chiropractor for the first time have some form of pain or a symptom that is bothering them. Once we start looking at the body, we often find that the bothersome symptom is actually the result of a whole cascade of issues that came before. It could have started with a traumatic birth, a childhood injury, a stressful life event or even a bacterial or viral insult on the body. Our bodies hold on to our life experiences and these are often reflected in our posture, our movements and our health status in general. Since the body is amazing at compensating for problems, most people have found ways to stay relatively symptom-free and functional in their daily lives…until the moment that the balance tips, and then they seek help from a chiropractor. By the time people come in for the first time, there are often years of imbalance and compensation that need to be addressed.

If you are someone who is interested in getting to the root cause of a symptom and in guiding your body to be the most healthy and balanced that it can be, then it’s important to honour the fact that changing our bodies and habits takes time. We all go to the dentist, the car mechanic and the hairdresser time and time again. Most of us are also very aware that making positive changes to our health is something that requires time and commitment. You don’t lose weight by going to the gym once or change your diet by eating one healthy meal! The same is true of chiropractic. To truly balance your body, reduce your symptoms and enhance your health, you may need more than one or two visits.

So how many times can you expect to come back once you start care with us? This of course depends very much on the individual, but there is a framework that honours the healing times of the body and respects your need for help at certain stages. In the beginning, you will probably come in for an adjustment once a week for a few weeks until your symptoms are under control and your chiropractor feels that your body is starting to balance. We often call this crisis care. If you are in a lot of pain when you first visit, this may be more frequent. Once your body starts to respond positively to the adjustments, we move into a stabilisation phase, which is often one visit every few weeks. This is to allow us to check in and fine-tune any subtle imbalances that start to resurface. Following this, many people chose for what we call maintenance care, where they may visit once every few months or once a year. This is a great way to check your body and make sure it is functioning and thriving at its best.

Now, this model may look a little different if you are bringing in your tiny newborn baby or a young child. Of course they won’t have had the chance to build up years of imbalance, and a what a wonderful gift that they can be adjusted at the very start of their lives rather than later on. For a baby with no symptoms, one adjustment may be all they need to balance and realign their delicate system. For a baby with a challenge such as feeding difficulties, digestive issues or something else, a few visits may be necessary to gently bring their body into alignment. Many parents then choose to bring their child for a check-up once or twice a year, which is a fantastic way to guide their growing bodies into a balanced and healthy state.

At Continuum Chiropractic we are firm believers in the power of your body. We do not want you to become dependent on our help to get you out of pain in the future. Our goal is to teach your body new strategies to better handle stress, trauma and injury in the future, therefore empowering you to help yourself. We believe that a good investment in yourself for a short amount of time can pay dividends for your future health and capacity to heal and recover. So does that mean you’ll be coming back to us forever? Well that’s really up to you. But like anything else with health, choosing strategies that can empower you, reduce your need for medication and help you thrive in life can only be a good thing.