When someone is injured, he or she has a unique schedule of treatments required to fully recover. Whether you’re seeing the chiropractor for recovery or to prevent injuries in the future, you may be required to attend multiple appointments. Unlike medical appointments, your adjustments may span over months, rather than days or weeks. The following are some factors that could help your chiropractor determine how many appointments you’ll need.
The Severity of Your Condition
If you are seeing a chiropractor to treat a previous injury, the severity of that injury could play a role in the amount of appointments you end up having. For example, if you were injured in a car accident and had to have surgery, your treatments may begin about a year later, and could last for many months or years. If you got whiplash on a local amusement park ride, it may not be quite as severe, and you may only be required to have two or three adjustments before you start to feel permanent relief.
Your Intended Goals
Each patient who sees a chiropractor will have different goals. As you speak with your chiropractor about the goals you have for treatment, he or she can come up with a plan that will get you there. That plan is often determined by what you hope to achieve. For example, if you are looking for temporary pain relief until you are able to afford a surgery, you may only go once or twice per month for a few months. If you are looking to prevent injuries during a sporting season, you might visit the chiropractor before each practice throughout the season. If you’d like permanent back pain relief because of your desk job, you might seek regular chiropractic care for the duration of your employment.
The Chiropractor’s Recommendation
Sometimes you’ll have a goal, but after an initial assessment, the chiropractor will recommend something different. Perhaps he or she will find subluxation that you didn’t realize existed. Perhaps he or she will realize your condition is better or worse than you initially thought. Keep those things in mind so as you go along with the course of your treatment, you won’t be too upset if the recommendation changes and you end up with more or fewer appointments.
Speaking with the Professionals
Perhaps the best way to really determine how many chiropractic appointments you’ll need is to speak with a professional. Contact a chiropractic clinic, like a chiropractor at Mid-Atlantic Spinal Rehab & Chiropractic, to schedule an appointment.
