Does Chiropractic Care Require a Lot of Visits?

A common misconception about chiropractic care is that it requires an excessive amount of visits, for a very long time. By educating, and explaining to our patients about the research that has shown  prescribed exercise in combination with chiropractic care, is the most effective treatment for recovery. This allows the patient to understand how to most effectively use chiropractic care to getting better. What does this mean for the patient? Achieving significant improvement in symptoms and functionality as quick as possible. This is always the goal for Gallatin Valley Chiropractic, meaning no heavy, long- term treatment plans!

Remove the pain and restriction, then get moving...

Chiropractic care, in conjunction with strengthening and mobilization exercises has shown to be the most effective form of rehabilitation. We understand this at Gallatin Valley Chiropractic and want to implement it with each of our patients, which we can break down into two steps.

1. The first step is to get the patient out of pain, and back to their baseline functionality. Chiropractors are trained in restoring biomechanical function into joints where needed. This means helping the patient regain full range of motion, and getting pain levels under control. Each patient has different ailments and injuries but this is the initial goal, to calm things down and get move again. 
2. The second step, once motion is restored and pain is decreased, will be to implement exercises, in that regained range of motion. This will help the patient re-learn aberrant pain avoiding movements they have subconsciously adopted, and encouraging the patient that they are safe and are able to move how they want to. Exercising throughout the restored range of motion will also help improve tissue tolerance, strengthen inhibited musculature and help prevent further injury. 

Fear Avoidance of Movement

It is important to note that fear avoiding movement is a very real thing. It's your bodies natural subconscious restriction to allowing full movement in fear of injury. The problem with this, is that the fear avoidance can often take place even when the injury or problem as been resolved. We as clinicians want to encourage the patient to not avoid movements, as movement avoidance can cause stiffness, decreased tissue tolerance and can actually promote future injury by the patient being called to move a certain way that they have been avoiding that their body hasn't been conditioned to do so.  

RESEARCH

1. Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain.

• The results of this trial suggest that chiropractic manipulative therapy in conjunction with standard medical care offers a significant advantage for decreasing pain and improving physical functioning when compared with only standard care, for men and women between 18 and 35 years of age with acute LBP. 

Chiropractors are highly skilled in restoring biomechanical function. Once our patients are out of pain and have regained full motion, exercises will be implemented into the patients treatment plan. This will allow recovery to be achieved quicker, as well as prevent future injuries. Communicating to the patient about fear avoidance movement and that pain is not always the best indicator for what to do and not to do is vital in patient rehabilitation. Additionally, patient compliance in performing the designated exercises/ stretches between visits is very important in speeding up the healing process, as well as retraining the tissues affected to adapt to the restored motion. 

Call us: 406-551-2177

Schedule online at: https://appointments.mychirotouch.com/?clinic=GVCL0001

References

Goertz CM;Long CR;Hondras MA;Petri R;Delgado R;Lawrence DJ;Owens EF;Meeker WC; (n.d.). Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain: Results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23060056/.