Many people who see a chiropractor go to one for neck or back pain, get a pop out of their joints, get told to come back in a day or two, and are surprised how much better they feel. they may come back, and they may not. Usually those who are tired of their pain recurring are the ones that come back. But, when does care stop being productive? That, actually depends on both you, AND your chiropractor.
Passive care is when your chiropractor simply adjusts your spine, maybe massages your tight spots, and you feel better. You keep coming back, because it feels good, and you want to keep that going. For some people, this works well because they don’t want to make an effort to keep that good feeling. They want someone to do the work for them, and they don’t mind paying for it. The only risk for this kind of care is back and neck joints can become loose, and this looseness causes pain. They go in to see their chiropractor, he adjusts their neck, and they feel better for a few days, but the discomfort always comes back. A good chiropractor may adjust often at the beginning of a treatment plan, but also knows when to start decreasing care to once a week, once every few weeks, an finally once every few months.
Another option is active care. In this treatment model, the chiropractor does the same adjustments, massages the same muscles, and the patients get the same great feeling of a decrease in discomfort from their condition. But the chiropractor would also gives exercises to do at home, or has the patient do them as part of their visit. This is designed to relieve pain, but at the same time, strengthen the muscles in the affected area. The strengthening of the muscles supports any joints that may have problems, and reinforces proper movement patterns. This allows the joints to keep that wonderful pain-killing feeling of an adjustment for days, weeks, or months!
Why don’t all chiropractors use this treatment model? And what if I go out of alignment? Chiropractic was founded on the “bone out of place” model. This alignment model is severely outdated, and has been shown to have little effect on actual pain levels. Recent medical research has also suggested that adjustments are decreasing pain through activation of local nerves surrounding the joints, which cause a temporary pain killing effect. I myself have an 18% scoliosis in my low back, and have 1-2 days of discomfort per year. When I need to, I go get adjusted, but I supplement that with exercises, and keep myself pain free. A lot of chiropractors also don’t like to use this treatment method because it would cut their incomes, and would take more time each visit. Some, also still fully believe that adjustments are restoring alignment to the spine, although they never seem to be able to keep it that way, and you need to return over and over again.
Obviously, I am a supporter of active care, and would love it if all of my patients did their exercises, got out of pain, and told all of their friends how they recovered in a matter of a few weeks! But, this is not for everyone. Some people know they aren’t going to do exercises at home. Those people automatically fall into the passive care category, and either come in often for adjustments, or just come in when they are in extreme pain. We patch them up, send them on their way, and they come back a few days/weeks/months later because their pain came back, and we start all over again. What kind of care you have is entirely dependent on you, and who you have for a chiropractor.
I hope that after reading this, you know about your current care, your chiropractor, and whether or not you are interested in achieving more with your health!
