Chiropractic care can effectively be broken up into three different categories.
Crisis care, preventative care and wellness care. Let’s break down what each of those are in order to understand the difference between these three approaches?
Crisis Care
Crisis care is a term we use when referring to caring for a patient in acute pain. Think in terms of an injury, or pain that is extremely uncomfortable or debilitating or those who are in chronic pain who feel like they cannot manage it ongoing and may be affected physically, mentally and/or emotionally by this pain. Chronic pain is generally defined in this context as pain lasting longer than three months. Crisis care is needed at times when you feel you’ve reached a point where immediate action is required.
Preventative Care
Preventative care is designed to keep you feeling well, preventing pain and maintaining the movement of your joints. This is all about supporting your health long term. We think of preventative care like regular maintenance for your body. Just as you would regularly have your car serviced to keep it running at its optimum, your spine and body are similar. What we do every day creates distortion and incorrect movement patterns, a classic example would be sitting at a computer with incorrect posture/ergonomics. Preventative care can assist to correct any concerns before pain develops.
Wellness Care
While we do not like the term Wellness care, as it is so cliche, it is something we believe has great long term benefit to both your and your families overall health. Wellness care is you looking after your health through a variety of means, with Chiropractic care being one of the aspects. Maintenance care will be established between you and your Chiropractor based on your case, and your body’s ability to adapt in a positive way to everyday lifestyle stresses. During this phase of care, your Chiropractor will support you with lifestyle advice to ensure the health of your spine, nervous system and body. A time frame between visits will be established between you and your practitioner.
While we appreciate not everyone is wanting an adjustment every month, we do generally recommend that every patient gets checked by their Chiropractor at least once every 4 to 6 weeks (8-12 times a year) to maintain correct spinal alignment and to keep you out of dysfunction or pain.
To discuss any aspect of your treatment plan or health, contact Tribe Chiropractic.