How Often Should I See my Chiropractor?

Many chiropractors will tell you that you need to see them weekly in order to function at your best, be pain-free, and maintain whatever gains you’ve had under their care. But is it true that you need to go weekly to be able to feel and function at your best?

I’m going to be honest that I think those types of chiropractors are making it so you HAVE to see them in order to be healthy and functional, but where does this idea come from?

There is a belief in the chiropractic world that if you have fixations in the spine ("stuck" areas), that there will be pressure on your spinal nerves, and that will negatively affect how your cells, organs, and tissues are able to function. Is this based on any factual data?

I haven’t been able to find the study or studies that many chiropractors reference from University of Colorado in the 1970s. The researcher, Dr. Chung Ha Suh, Ph.D, allegedly found that the weight of a dime could decrease nerve transmission by 40-60%. (If you enter his name into PubMed, you get 0 results, and the only reference I could find to him was on chiropractic websites.)

From this, many chiropractors claim that there will be far-reaching effects on overall health, including organ and immune function, in the body from this pressure. This claim is not supported by any of the literature.

I’ve mentioned in a previous blog about why I think people have improvements in their overall health and well-being after they’ve been seeing a chiropractor for a while. They can have a reduction of stress due to a reduction in pain, which can have a positive effect on overall health. They likely get information from their chiropractor about ways to eat healthier, encouragement and support for being active, and to be honest, someone who genuinely seems to care about their well-being.

“Maintenance care” is often times what some chiropractors call their weekly appointments with you, but what does the RESEARCH say a realistic maintenance plan looks like?

For someone who has had recurrent or persistent low back pain, maintenance care has been shown to be beneficial for preventative care (Eklund, 2018). HOWEVER, in that study, the maintenance care frequency was 1-2 months, not weekly. Individuals who were able to make it to at least 1 month between appointments showed increased functionality, fewer pain days, and only had 2 more appointments utilizing maintenance care, than individuals who only came back when they had pain.

So, do you really NEED to see your chiropractor once per week in order to be functional? Probably not. If your WANT to go in weekly to get adjusted because it feels good, then have at it, but do it because you want to, not because someone scared you into it.

For a chiropractor who will help you take control of your life and health, contact Alameda Chiropractic & Ergonomics. Your ethical Alameda Chiropractor.