Relief Phase
Most of our patients begin treatment here, because they’re suffering from an ache or pain they think we can help them with. As you can see there are generally three different recovery tracks.
A few patients actually get a little worse before getting better. This is especially true of patients who have been in an auto accident or suffered other types of recent trauma.
And some patients respond more quickly, happily reaching this fork in the road in short order.
But most of our patients show steady progress, each visit building on the ones before, until they too reach the fork in the road.
Relief is obtained when spasm and swelling is reduced. Frequency is important to obtain this goal in a short period of time. DON’T MISS YOUR APPOINTMENTS. But note that long term changes with muscles and tendons will not be achieved at this point.
Then you’ll have a decision to make. You’ll be feeling better, so will you be inclined to build on your foundation and retrain supporting muscle? Improve biomechanics? Stabilize spinal function and fully heal and optimize your spine? That’s our goal for you. If that is your goal as well…
Corrective Phase
After your first re-examination with your doctor, if you choose to obtain long-term correction we must now work on flexibility and strength in order to change the way your body functions long term. Frequency of treatments can be reduced however the duration of time that we do our treatments must allow for that tissue to change. This may take weeks and ultimately a lot of this corrective care you may be able to do at home.
Or, will you choose to coast, possibly suffering a series of roller coaster relapses, that go away for a short time and then unexpectedly return?
It’s your choice. You don’t have to decide now, but be thinking about the implications of these two choices in the weeks and months ahead.
Stabilization Phase
Once your muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints are functioning properly we must strengthen or stabilize so that this change will last. Our frequency of treatment is much less as we monitor your progress with home exercise.
Maintenance/Wellness Phase
If you continue the daily activities that promote stress and pain, a regular checkup of your spine will help you stay healthy and out of pain. This type of care is most effective after relief or corrective care is completed and may not be covered by insurance.
