How Often Should You See a Chiropractor in San Francisco?

If you’re suffering from chronic pain or muscle tension, you’ve probably considered visiting a chiropractor. A chiropractic treatment plan can provide lasting pain relief, restore mobility, enhance physical performance, and improve overall well-being for most patients. And chances are, if you’ve considered going to the chiropractor, you’ve also wondered how frequently you need to visit. So, how often should you see a chiropractor? The answer will depend on the severity of your condition and your treatment goals as well as whether you choose to seek general chiropractic treatment or PostureWorks BioPhysics® care.

At PostureWorks, we’ll consider your condition and treatment goals when designing your three-phase treatment plan of initial care, corrective care, and maintenance care, and during treatment, we can adjust the frequency of visits throughout those phases to help you reach your rehabilitation goals.

Below, we discuss the differences between general chiropractic and PostureWorks treatments and examine how your condition and treatment goals align with the three phases of Chiropractic BioPhysics® care to gain a better understanding of how often you should see a chiropractor.

Traditional Chiropractic vs. PostureWorks Chiropractic

In traditional chiropractic care, pain relief and neural improvements are often only temporary. Some traditional chiropractors may offer muscle work, which should generally resolve muscle issues in nine visits, while some offer strength-building exercises; however, it can take a few months to build muscle strength.

The PostureWorks BioPhysics® treatment plan offers more long-term improvements in pain relief and nerve function and circulation while reducing disc and bone degeneration.

When seeing a traditional chiropractor, minor issues should clear up in six to 12 visits over a period of two to four weeks. This type of treatment may or may not help chronic, repeat, or severe issues. The treatment frequency is recommended at two to three times per week, speeding up healing times by 75 percent over traditional medicinal treatments. While this is great for short-term pain relief, the pain is likely to return or worsen over time if posture and alignment aren’t addressed.

A chiropractor who recommends corrective care will teach you postural exercises and stretches that have been shown to be effective long-term when performed two to three times per week over three months. The goal is to create balance, strength, and good spinal alignment, which yields a more long-term improvement to quality of life, function, and pain relief.

Consider Your Condition

The first factor in determining the frequency of your chiropractic visits is understanding the nature of your condition. Some common conditions or reasons people seek chiropractic treatments are:

• Back and neck pain
• Muscle spasms
• Pain from accidents
• Joint pain
• Migraines/headaches
• Preventative treatment for active lifestyles
• Pain from repetitive motions
• Chronic pain conditions (I.e. fibromyalgia, arthritis, etc.)

During an initial assessment, your chiropractor can help you assess your condition to determine how much attention your condition requires. This assessment can include determining how long you’ve suffered from the condition and if any outside factors like surgery or injury have worsened your symptoms.

At PostureWorks, we utilize spinal and postural biometric readings to clearly see your current spinal alignment and decide on an optimal alignment for you. This thorough assessment of your spinal health provides the initial insight that helps us determine how frequent your visits will need to be to create a long term solution.

How Often Should You See a Chiropractor? It Depends.

Once you understand your condition, you’ll want to consider your treatment goals. Are you seeking short-term relief from an acute injury, long-term rehabilitation, or preventative treatment? Do you want to have better posture, alleviate pain, avoid spinal surgery, or improve your athletic performance? These choices will affect the frequency of your visits.

Your treatment plan will correlate directly with your treatment goals. By assessing your current spinal health and chiropractic treatment goals, our doctors can determine the number of visits you may need during the three phases of care.

The Three Phases of Chiropractic Care at PostureWorks

Initial Care

Your first chiropractic evaluation marks the start of the initial care phase. This is where your doctor begins to establish your overall treatment plan. This initial phase focuses on your immediate needs and will utilize adjustments and stretches for pain relief and preparation for the second treatment phase. The initial care phase may only require a few sessions to complete.

Corrective Care

When your pain and symptoms are under control, you’ll transition to the corrective care phase. During this phase of the treatment, your doctor will focus on treating the misalignment causing the symptoms. This care plan may include a combination of spinal alignment traction, postural exercises, and neuromuscular re-education to help you reach your treatment goals. On average, this phase lasts from three to six months. For PostureWorks, two to three sessions per week are generally recommended; however, each plan is personalized to fit the patient’s needs.

Maintenance Care

Once your pain reduction and functional improvement persist and become stable, you’re ready to graduate to maintenance care. How often should you see a chiropractor during this stage? The frequency typically decreases to one time per month, with an annual follow-up to ensure your postural and alignment improvements hold long-term. During this time, your doctor will continue to work with you to improve exercise, postural, and ergonomic habits for ongoing benefits.

No matter what phase of care you’re in, listen closely to your body and talk with your chiropractor about what you’re experiencing before and during treatment. Based on your feedback and on your personalized biometric assessment, your chiropractor will shape a treatment plan that aligns with your specific needs.

Making the Best Treatment Plan for You

At PostureWorks, we focus on understanding you and your specific needs to design a treatment plan and frequency that works for you. We leverage more than 30 years of research and the latest technologies supporting Chiropractic BioPhysics® (CBP) to treat misalignments, rebalance posture, and ensure long-term benefits for our patients. If you’re wondering how often should you see a chiropractor, schedule a visit so that we can help determine a personalized treatment plan that makes you comfortable.

Chiropractic BioPhysics®, or CBP, is a deeply researched and results-oriented corrective care technique. CBP-trained chiropractors aim to realign the spine back to health and optimal function while eliminating the source of pain and circulatory and nervous dysfunction. As with all chiropractic care, CBP is conservative, painless, and non-invasive. Contact us today to schedule your appointment.