Chiropractic Treatment Plans

Transcription

Hello everybody, this is Dr. Aaron Seaton with The Chiropractic Place. Today's video is about chiropractic and a course of care. So often, when we go to healthcare providers of any kind, we chart a course. We lay out a game plan to help our patients reach the goals we've set out from the get-go. And I wanted to discuss that with patients because sometimes people perceive chiropractic care is this thing that we're going to do one-time. Then when I get off the table, I'm supposed to feel better magically, and everything's supposed to be gone, and if that doesn't happen, then I'm going to try something else. So I like to go through this with people to reiterate why following a course of care is important when you're with a chiropractor. So number one, if we go to physical therapy for a problem, and I refer patients to physical therapy all the time, the usual standard protocol is to follow something like twice a week, anywhere for four to six weeks, to make sure that we are charting a course of care to see if we can help that patient get better, and see if physical therapy can provide them various exercises, modalities, and stretches that can help that improve.

And in many cases, when we see those improvements, another four to six weeks may be authorized to improve that patient further. Even after that, a lot of the time, physical therapists have ongoing recommendations to their patients, whether it be stretches or exercises that they want them to do continually to prevent that problem from coming back, so that's true. With physical therapy, most people, when they go to a physical therapist, understand if they go there one time, they're not going to get results doing that.

Number two, if we go to our dentist, when we go to the dentist, most of us understand if we're going there, we haven't been in a while, that there might be a course of care charted by our dentist as far as possible. So, for example, in deep cleanings, if any cavities are spotted, the dentists may want to repair those now. Then even after any corrections dental corrections are made to problems that they found, your dentist is going to chart a course of care for you, which typically includes, "Hey, I need you to brush and floss twice a day. We need to see you anywhere from every three to every six months for regular cleanings as preventative maintenance of your dental health so that we do not incur big problems down the road." So when they go to the dentist, most people fully understand there is a course of care, and more importantly, regular maintenance is required to maximize their dental health.

Chiropractic care is no different. If you've never been to the chiropractor or haven't been in years, we provide consultation and exam in our office. We take digital X-rays in the office to better understand your spine, similar to if you went to a dentist who hadn't been in years. They will take digital X-rays of your teeth and jaw to see what is happening there. Is there anything underlying under the surface that we need to address? Similar to chiropractic care, we're taking X-rays to understand your spinal health better so that we can make better clinical decisions regarding your course of care. Now, most of my patients were starting somewhere twice to three times a week, for a few weeks to a month, to see if our approach was working. Are we achieving the goals that we set out? Are there any adjustments we need to make to that care plan as we move on? Typically, we see that go less and less with patients. But what we're trying to do with chiropractic care is the same as what your physical therapist's trying to do or your dentist in their respective fields.

We are trying to achieve results, and we need time to make those changes, so if you've been to the chiropractor, you've only been once or twice, and you didn't quite get the response you were hoping for, that is probably why. And this is why we spend that time on the first visit to understand better what your needs are, so when we're providing chiropractic care for low back pain or neck pain or headaches, whatever it is that you understand what we're doing and why we're doing it that way because it takes time to make those changes.

And then after we achieve the results our patients we're looking for, we're typically going to have a preventative maintenance recommendation because it's a lot easier if we take care of your spine along the way rather than wait for you to have things wear out and then try to get rid of the pain. That would not make sense. For your dentist, if your dentist says, "Oh, I fixed your cavity. I'll see you in a couple of years when you get another one. You don't need to really do anything." That would make no sense to all of us. The same is true with chiropractic care. Regular ongoing maintenance is required if you want to maximize your spinal health. I'm Dr. Aaron Seaton with The Chiropractic Place.

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