There are three phases of Chiropractic care – Relief, Correction, and Wellness. Relief is the first phase and the goal is to get the pressure of the nerve so you can start healing and feeling better. The number of visits necessary to accomplish this will depend on your age, underlying spinal condition and other lifestyle choices.
Remember that by the time most patients present to us the spinal condition is usually well advanced and has been causing underlying damage to the joint, muscles, ligaments and nerves, and ultimately, your health. In fact, a lot of people present already in phase two degeneration yet may have only been symptomatic for a short period of time.
Restoring the body to normal or maximum function is the goal of the "correction" phase. In most conditions, pain is the last thing to show up and the first thing to leave when treating the vertebral subluxation. Adaptations that have taken place in muscles and other soft tissues (such as the disc and ligaments) require care beyond the relief phase to properly correct.
The purpose of the "Wellness" phase of care is to prevent relapse of previous conditions and to address new conditions before they appear.
Chiropractic is about ensuring your nervous system is always functioning at 100% of its capacity. Each one of us are constantly adapting to external influences via our nervous system. For example when we pick up a child, sit at a desk for long periods of time, go to the gym and going about our normal routine and activities, it is our nervous system that interprets all this information and allows our body to perform at its best. Chiropractic ensures that your nervous system is free from interference allowing your body to function at its optimum.
When maximum improvement has been achieved, your doctor will suggest an appropriate level of care necessary to "maintain" the corrections made during the first two phases.
While chiropractic can aid restoration of function within your spine, there will always be an underlying weakness in your spine that will need to be checked regularly to ensure there is no relapse to its old position. That is to say, you cannot receive a "new spine" but we need to get the one you presented with functioning at 100% of what it is capable at and then maintain it.
For more understanding about this subject the chiropractors at Costa Blanca Chiropractic Center have weekly health education classes that you are welcome to attend.