How to make your chiropractic results last longer!

OK, so for the vast majority of the folks we take care of chiropractic works. It works really well.

So, what's next?  How do we keep feeling good and maybe even keep getting better?  It really boils down to two things:  Spinal exercises (which I will cover in another post) and maintenance adjustments.

You've put your time, energy, and money into getting your spine in better shape.  Let's keep it in good shape.

I believe that each and every one of us should be getting our spine checked at least once a month, preferably twice a month.  And, it's not just me, the research backs this up.

The prestigious medical journal Spine published research showing the benefits of maintenance care.  In it they took patients with low back pain and split them into three groups.  One group got  12 sham or fake adjustments, The second group got 12 real adjustments for the first month, but no maintenance afterwards, and the third group got 12 adjustments the first month and then two adjustments per month for the next nine months.

I'm putting two charts from this study below:

If you look at the chart above you can see that both groups that received 12 adjustments in the first month reported improvements in pain.  The pink line is the group that did not have maintenance adjustments and you can see that over the next nine months much of their pain came back.  Now look at the yellow line. That's the group that received maintenance adjustments two times a month for nine months following their initial month of care.  As you can see, not only did their pain not return, their pain continued to drop even further over the next nine months.

Now, this second chart looks almost just like the first one.  The only difference is that this chart is measuring disability, not pain.  In other words, it's looking at how you function, not just how you feel.  What we see is the same thing as we saw on the first chart.  Disability drops in both groups that received 12 adjustments in their first month of care.  But, the disability slowly returns in the group without maintenance care. In contrast, the group that received maintenance care for the next nine months not only maintained their improvement, the continued to get better!

So regardless of whether you just want to feel better or you actually want to function better, maintenance care is essential.

The authors of the research stated "As patients did benefit from the maintenance treatment, we believe that periodic patient visits permit proper evaluation, detection, and early treatment of any emerging problems, thus preventing future episodes of low back pain."  Or, as I tell my patients, getting your spine checked once or twice a month keeps the little problems from becoming big problems!

Ken Hicks, D.C.
Lookout Valley Chiropractic