Chiropractic care is unique in that it is useful not only when you have a specific injury or symptom, but also as a general technique to maintain alignment and wellness throughout the body. While some symptoms may be immediately relieved during a chiropractic adjustment, continued care is usually recommended to keep up health and offer preventative benefits going forward. If you are planning to visit a Marietta chiropractor, you may have questions about when you will begin to see results. While there is no definitive answer, this will help you understand what to expect.
What Is Chiropractic Care?
In order to understand the duration of chiropractic care, it can help to know the philosophy behind the care. Chiropractors work in a specific branch of healthcare that is focused on natural, non-invasive healing, beginning with the spine. Along with the brain, the spine controls the central nervous system, which is responsible for communication between all of the body’s functions. For this reason, when the spine is out of alignment or otherwise compromised, numerous systems in the body can begin to break down and lead to a range of health issues.
Here is a chiropractic fun fact: the goal of a Marietta chiropractor is to restore and rehabilitate the body in order to alleviate pain and other symptoms. Additionally, they focus on helping the body to function properly, preventing systems from breaking down and illness or injury from occurring. For this reason, chiropractic care focuses heavily on the root cause of your pain, rather than covering up symptoms. Where many doctors may prescribe painkillers to reduce pain, chiropractors will investigate what is causing the pain and seek to address that problem.
People often visit the chiropractor when they experience back pain, headaches, or neck pain and then continue care after their initial complaint has healed.
General Timeline Guidance
There is no single answer as to how long it will take before you begin to feel the impact of chiropractic treatment. The duration depends on your injury and a number of other factors. However, one of the main things that will influence this is the type of injury you have suffered. Chiropractors deal with the entire musculoskeletal system, so a wide range of injuries will fall under their care.
The quickest injuries to heal are bone injuries, which usually have a baseline of 5-6 weeks.
Soft tissue injuries, like ligament or tendon injuries, usually need about 6-8 weeks. When discs and cartilage are involved, you are usually looking at at least 3 months of healing time.
While these numbers provide general guidance, they are not a hard and fast rule.
Factors That Influence Treatment Duration
While different injuries and symptoms will take different amounts of time to heal, there are other factors that can play into your recovery. Your doctor will discuss the specifics of your case’s severity and how that may be included, and you can consider these factors as well.
Age
Even though you have no control over it, your age will impact your recovery timeline. Younger patients in their 20s and 30s tend to respond more quickly and have less previous damage to complicate their care. Patients who are middle-aged and older may have slower responses naturally and require more treatment.
Lifestyle
If you were active prior to your symptoms, it can help speed up your recovery process. Eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly help the body to heal and keep the joints and muscles healthy, making treatment work more quickly. A sedentary lifestyle may lead to a more difficult healing process. As a part of your treatment, you may be asked to begin an exercise process of some sort to help the body continue healing and prevent future issues.
Duration of pain
Seeking care quickly can be a helpful way to shorten the length of your treatment. Pain that has been present for a long time has likely worsened at the root cause, meaning more care is needed to fully heal, and making your care plan longer. Visiting a Marietta chiropractor as soon as you begin to notice symptoms can lead to a shorter time spent in treatment.
Your goals: If you are seeking simply pain relief, you can find that quickly with a few sessions of chiropractic care. However, you will likely return in weeks or months when the problem flares up again. Longer treatment may be a time investment at first but can lead to better health for a long time.
If you are in need of chiropractic care, contact AICA Marietta today to set up your first session. Our chiropractors will work to accurately diagnose the cause of your pain and develop safe and efficient treatment plans based on your goals and needs.