People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
– Quoted by many sources
I often like the above quote to why people visit a chiropractor, and the phases of Chiropractic care that you pass through in your health journey. Let’s explore why people visit a Chiropractor.
Initial Phase of Chiropractic Care = A Reason
Often there is a tipping point or the tip of the iceberg, where people think “that’s it, I’ve had it – it’s time for action”. This is often when people will first visit a chiropractor for their initial consult.
There’s a problem, and perhaps someone has mentioned that chiropractic might help. Or maybe they have tried other options and feel they aren’t getting to the real cause. Some solutions seem more like putting a bandaid on to mask the issue, instead of dealing with the cause!
Part of our experience as Chiropractors at Vivaci Family Chiropractic is to work out why you are here. Because beyond that symptom, is a driver – as in what are you not able to do, or what would you love to do that you aren’t able to. Life is being affected in a way that is stopping you from doing things that you love – and we can’t have that!
Pain and symptoms are our body’s way of letting us know what is happening, and as Chiropractors we like to untangle and discover how your structure can be impacting how you function.
While symptoms can be a poor indicator of what is actually going on, we can use them in conjunction with our extensive testing to measure how you are progressing. Chiropractors train for 5 years at universities in Australia and as primary health care practitioners we are able to assess, detect and adjust your spine and body.
At the end of the initial phase of care, we can retest! This allows us to see what has changed, how it has changed and where to from here…
Corrective or Regenerative care = A Season
Following initial care why do people continue to visit a chiropractor? Well, it might be time to sink our teeth into some corrective care. This is where we can continue dealing with underlying structural causes and problems to continue your improvements.
The smoke alarm is no longer going off. Your body isn’t screaming at you anymore. But perhaps the fire is still smouldering a little, so now it’s time to prep and clear to ensure a fire safe environment.
In terms of your body, it means adjusting the spine and body to continue to counteract some of the compensations that have appeared over your lifetime. Problems can re-present, or new problems can emerge in this phase. It’s an unwinding process and healing and success doesn’t always happen in a smooth upwards trajectory.
Wellness, lifetime, or maintenance care = lifetime care
Call it what you want, it means that Chiropractic care holds a high value for you and your family’s health. Why would people continue to see a chiropractor at this point? Well, you’ve reached a stage where your body is functioning higher than before and you want to keep it that way. Your body has an enhanced ability to self- regulate and heal.
Using our objective testing that we complete throughout your care, we can establish baselines and measure your improvements. This ensures we are meeting your goals and that we are maintaining them!
Our testing aims to assess how well the brain is talking to the body and the body to the brain. This is of utmost importance to us, in helping you!
At this point sometimes you don’t even realise how great you are feeling or are self-regulating. This is because you have a new threshold of “normal”. Your body’s resistance is better able to handle the stressors that are placed on it.
Does this mean you’ll never feel any pain or symptoms ever again? Well, no! To feel is to be human. However, you’ll now have the understanding that pain and symptoms are messages from your body trying desperately to tell you something. You’ll understand that a combination of physical, emotional and chemical stressors play a part in how our body responds.
