Once I start going to the chiropractor, do I have to go forever? 

This is something that people say all the time. I hear it from new patients, friends, family, basically anytime I’m in public I hear somebody say something along these lines. “Well I don’t want to go to a chiropractor because once I start going I’m gonna have to go forever.” This is totally not true!!! I’m going to explain why.

There are very few things in this life, if any, that require a one time session for a fix. Usually when you want to correct something or change something, you have to do it consistently for some period of time. A great example of this is going to the dentist. You can’t expect to go to the dentist once in your life and have everything fixed and taken care of. Heck you can’t even go once every 10 years and think that you have it taken care of! You also would not go your entire childhood and teenage life without going to the dentist, and then decide to start going when you’re 40 and start having problems with your teeth. That wouldn’t make sense, right? Growing up we go to the dentist once a year or so to get things checked and make sure that everything is growing properly, in the proper alignment, and that nothing has to be influenced in order to take care of your teeth. Some parents even go as far as getting braces for their kids, which is a very very common thing, simply so that their teeth grow into proper alignment and their child doesn’t have a crooked smile when they get older. You would also probably agree that if you don’t go to the dentist for 10, 20, or 30 years, when you finally go there are going to be a lot more problems. If you were to do this, would you expect your dentist to fix all of your teeth problems in one visit? How about two or three visits? Probably not. This is years and years and decades and decades of neglect of your teeth and it’s going to take a while to fix it. 

Another example is going to the gym. You will reap the benefits of going to the gym and exercising as long as you go to the gym and exercise. As soon as you stop exercising, your body will start to get complacent and fall back into a state where you are not exercising. Makes sense, right? You can’t expect to go to the gym for a day or a week or even a month and get changes that are going to be long lasting.

So, let’s go back to talking about a chiropractor. Most people have not gone to a chiropractor their entire lives, and they start thinking about going when they have back pain, neck pain, headaches, or migraines. At this point most people have already tried other things, like over-the-counter medication, talking to their medical doctor, getting imaging of their neck and brain, and even taking dangerous medications with lots of side effects. So, they decide to go to the chiropractor and see if it will help, and then they are shocked when it’s not going to be an overnight fix! This is ridiculous. The longer you have been dealing with an injury or issue, the longer it will take to heal. It would be unrealistic to think that your injury or pain will resolve in days, weeks, or months in some severe situations. In order to correct the problem that is causing your neck pain, back pain, headaches, or migraines, it’s going to take time. The body has to get back into a proper alignment and stay in that proper alignment for some period of time before your pain signals will go away. Your body is smart and it tells you when you are in pain because something needs to change or be fixed. If you take care of your body before the pain signals go off, you won’t have to be in an emergency situation where you are desperate for relief.

As your chiropractor, I will work with your body and do my best to help it heal in the most optimal way possible. In the beginning you may come in a little more frequently as we are trying to break patterns in your system, but your appointments will become further and further apart as your body gets used to your new alignment. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you are only coming into the office once a week and then once a month, but this entirely depends on your body, your specific situation and how well you stick to the recommended care plan. Even if you start feeling better after a couple weeks or a couple of months, it is important that you stick to your maintenance care plan and keep coming into the office to maintain your alignment. If you do not come in for maintenance visits to get your alignment checked, your body will eventually revert back to its old patterns and you will start feeling your back pain, neck pain, headaches, migraines, or other injury again. So this is why people think that you have to come in forever however, just as anything else in your body that needs maintenance and routine care, your spine is the same way. I suppose you don’t have to come in if you don’t want to, but you cannot expect your body to maintain alignment through all of the environmental stressors in life without getting it taken care of regularly!

If this makes sense to you and you are ready to get your body in proper alignment and say goodbye to your neck pain, headaches, and migraines for good, please give me a call at 303-425-4444. I offer complimentary consultations to see if this office is a good fit for you.