Do You Have to Keep Being Adjusted to Stay in Alignment?

I'm sure you have heard this before:

"Once you start getting adjusted you'll have to keep being adjusted regularly to stay in alignment".

You could probably even replace "alignment" with "good health", "good mobility", or even "keep it in place".

This is a fallacy. No person is textbook perfect! There is not a set status of being in alignment. Though you can certainly feel like something is "off" from your norm.

Chiropractic adjustments, while they do feel great for most individuals, are not a REQUIREMENT of a healthy lifestyle. Allow us to share both sides of the aisle on the chiropractic benefit claims of long-term adjusting in this post.

If you have never been adjusted before, you may even be wondering how dangerous it is, or have seen wild videos on social media or Youtube of adjusting, and are wondering if every office is exactly like those examples. I'll be the first to clear the air and say that adjusting is not a one size fit all, even down to the amount of force or technique applied. Some patients are not a great candidate for it either!

When a proper adjustment is delivered, the mechanoreceptors are stimulated, a.k.a your movement receptors. Your brain is then computing the movement rather than the nociceptors, a.k.a. your pain receptors, for a short period of time.

To understand why people feel better after an adjustment, we need to look at what research tells us! A systematic review in 2004, found that spinal manipulation for lower back and neck pain is a viable option for relief of pain and increased function.

However, the review noted that many of these studies would benefit from subgrouping patients for increased specificity, as well as a more detailed look at acute vs. chronic pain in both regions.

Which requires us to provide more information on the significance of the adjustment as a treatment method.

In 2011, Senna and Machaly found that patients with chronic lower back pain who went through long-term follow up, "spinal manipulation wellness care" were able to maintain their improvements seen from the initial treatment plan, compared to the group whom did not have long-term manipulation.

For many chiropractors, this research article does a great job of selling chiropractic for life.

But at Sembach Chiropractic, we think that is only a fraction of what the care plan needs to include. We don't want you reliant on your monthly adjustment to feel like you have it all together.

In our clinical experience, patients whom have had more treatment plan services than chiropractic spinal manipulation, or adjustments, have seen better results. They often feel like they do NOT need to be in anymore just to have a pain-free day.

The goal with implementing physical exercise therapies, is to prepare your body for the activities you do when you leave the office. We are VERY adaptable, so we need to treat your injury as such! It can heal and you can perform the way you want to without fear or worry when you combine proper functional exercise therapies, adjusting, and soft tissue work.

Yours in health,

Dr. Caitlin Sembach

Citations:

Bronfort G, Haas M, Evans RL, Bouter LM. Efficacy of spinal manipulation and mobilization for low back pain and neck pain: a systematic review and best evidence synthesis. Spine J. 2004 May-Jun;4(3):335-56. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2003.06.002. PMID: 15125860.

Senna MK, Machaly SA. Does maintained spinal manipulation therapy for chronic nonspecific low back pain result in better long-term outcome? Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2011 Aug 15;36(18):1427-37. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181f5dfe0. PMID: 21245790.