(503) 777-4221What is an appropriate treatment plan in chiropractic? The best answer to that question is ‘the right amount’. When patients ask us how long it will take to feel better I tell them generally it will depend on three things;
- How long the injury has existed
The sooner we can correct the subluxation before the formation of random scar tissue, the faster a patient will stabilize.
- How Healthy is the patient
Generally the healthier the person, the faster their bodies are able to resolve the inflammation that results from the injury.
- Preexisting damage to the spine
Many times relatively minor injury can persist because it has aggravated the underlying condition, this is due to allodynia (the modulation of pain in the cord so that 90% of pain signals never make it to the cortex to register pain, masking slow and developing problems).
The most important factor in any treatment plan is how the patient responds to care given. There must be a monitoring process in place to be able to evaluate the patient’s progress. In our office the patient is palpated, intersegmental ROM is checked and a heat differential instrument is used each and every visit. A treatment estimate is given after the first adjustment to see how they will respond to the correction given, and the plan is reevaluated weekly. As the patient shows a positive response, the frequency of the adjustments is reduced and an at home stretching/strengthening program is started.
Our office has three objectives;
- Find the cause of the problem and fix it as quickly as possible
- Train the patient to prevent future injury through stretching and strengthening
- Educate them on how the body’s system is interrelated to the nervous system from a functional level
Be Well,
Dr. Scott Conklin
Chiropractor
