Laying the Foundation for Total Health
In some ways, one could say that chiropractic care is a bit like building a house - certain things have to happen in a particular order in order for everything to stand strong and work together correctly. When building a house, if you tried to build your walls before you had a solid foundation, your walls would be weak and eventually may even collapse. If you tried to build your roof before the walls were ready, you would run into the same problem. These concepts apply to your body as well, and chiropractic care addresses many common reasons why people experience pain and other health issues. If something is not right with your body's foundation, then that needs to be addressed before true health can be achieved. With chiropractic care, your body has to go through a particular plan of care in order to repair itself correctly and fully. There are three general phases of chiropractic care...
Chiropractic Care
Relief Care is the initial visits to largely reduce the frequency and intensity of your symptoms. This phase of care is rarely more than a month
and frequently within two weeks or less. You may be seen as little as two times per week, or every day for some days.
Corrective Care is a treatment for conditions that are long standing, recurrent or a continuation of an active care program. Once the condition is responding to care (the relief phase), the patient may take a more active role in correcting the chronic (longer term) patterns of musculoskeletal dysfunctions. This may include a home exercise program or some behavioral changes to correct the perpetuating and exacerbating factors in your case. Office treatments are generally less frequent than with acute care but may, however, carry on for a longer period of time. This is similar to the dental model of braces to correct crooked teeth.
Supportive Care is performed to help maintain and preserve the benefits achieved from the relief and corrective care stages. Continuing to come in for spinal check-ups and participate in treatments if required, will help keep you in the best possible health. The frequency of supportive care is determined based on your condition, lifestyle and health care goals.