A proper diagnosis goes a long way. Treatment and recovery can happen relatively quickly or broken up into parts, phases, and sessions, as part of a treatment and rehabilitation plan. This depends on the individual, their age, underlying conditions, and the severity of their injury/s. It is not uncommon to have a treatment schedule that could be weeks/months long. This can be tough on individuals with limited abilities and/or a slow progressive rehab to get back to normal. It is arduous, but to achieve optimal healing and health, it is expected.

Chiropractic medicine is no different.  It’s non-invasive compared to surgery but not as immediate as medication/s. This places it in between. Recovery timelines can vary significantly based on the nature of the condition, the patient, their injury/s, and everything attached. Most chiropractic treatment and adjustment plans are scheduled according to the individual’s injury and/or condition. Every case is different, meaning that treatment could be a couple of sessions for an individual with mild sciatica to a few weeks or months for more severe injuries/conditions. Most want to know why chiropractors execute these plans over weeks and months.

The Body Needs To Get Used To The Adjustments

One reason for an extended adjustment schedule is to prevent adjustment shock. Adjustment shock often presents through soreness and tenderness, and there could be a feeling of soreness when sitting or standing or difficulty when trying to move with a normal range of motion. This happens when trying to heal the body too much and too fast. Trying to perform massive chiropractic adjustments without preparing the body could worsen and/or create further injury/s.

For example, correcting severe lordosis requires repositioning the spine’s curvature through properly planned out adjustment sessions. If a chiropractor tries to adjust/align the spine into place over a few days, this would be extremely uncomfortable and more than likely painful for the individual. Plus, there is a lack of musculoskeletal support from the rest of the body that is needed to make sure that the adjustments/changes take hold and are maintained. A chiropractor wants to avoid these issues to focus on getting the individual back to proper health.

Preparing The Body With A Solid Foundation

Chiropractic manipulations and adjustments need time to settle in, ensuring that they take hold and not shift back to the incorrect position. Spinal problems are not solved overnight. This means that the causes of misalignment will remain for a period as the treatment/adjustment process begins. A spaced-out schedule ensures that the adjustments are made accordingly to strengthen the spine through the process. This enables adjustments and the body to develop the necessary support system and prevent any negative re-shifting. As time goes on, the adjustments achieve total realignment, restoring the positive curvature that can be maintained.

Schedule Benefits

Finally, the step-by-step nature of a chiropractic adjustment schedule enables the treatment team to check the status of an adjustment plan. If radiological imaging shows changes, setbacks, or new issues arise, the treatment plan and schedule can be changed and adapted accordingly.

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Body Composition Testing

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Too Much Alcohol Can Slow Recovery From Tissue Injuries

Alcohol is often associated with celebrations, anniversaries, etc. But drinking too much can damage the immune system. Too much alcohol contributes to organ damage, specifically the liver. However, it is known to slow down recovery from tissue injuries, as well. Moderate drinking is defined as drinking up to 1 drink a day for women and up to 2 a day. Exceeding the recommended intake disrupts the immune pathways and impairs the body’s ability to fight off infections. Alcohol-related immune system damage has been associated with the development of certain types of cancer, including head and neck cancers among alcohol users. Before thinking that this is a problem that only affects chronic alcohol users, acute binge drinking can also severely impair the body’s immune system.

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

References

Holt, Kelly, et al. “The effects of a single session of chiropractic care on strength, cortical drive, and spinal excitability in stroke patients.” Scientific Reports vol. 9,1 2673. 25 Feb. 2019, doi:10.1038/s41598-019-39577-5

Iben, Axén, et al. “Chiropractic maintenance care – what’s new? A systematic review of the literature.” Chiropractic & manual therapies vol. 27 63. 21 Nov. 2019, doi:10.1186/s12998-019-0283-6

Mior, Silvano et al. “Chiropractic services in the active-duty military setting: a scoping review.” Chiropractic & manual therapies vol. 27 45. 15 Jul. 2019, doi:10.1186/s12998-019-0259-6

Pasala, Sumana et al. “Impact of Alcohol Abuse on the Adaptive Immune System.” Alcohol research: current reviews vol. 37,2 (2015): 185-97.