Maintenance or Wellness Adjusting is when you come in periodically for a “tune up” to make sure that your vertebrae are staying in the correct alignment. Coming in for these periodic adjustments helps prevent the vertebrae from getting too far out of place and causing your original pain to return.
¨ Many people ask how often should I come in for a maintenance or wellness adjustment—and part of my answer is that it depends on the your age, your physical activities, and your underlying condition. Let me give some general guidelines. For someone who has had their initial problem corrected and wants to come in on a maintenance or wellness schedule—it ranges between every 2 weeks to once every 8 weeks.
- ¨ The older you are—the more frequently you should get adjusted—simply because your body has gone through a lot more and has more wear and tear on it.
- ¨ Someone who is sedentary all the time should come in a little more often than someone who is moderately active (who walks, swims, exercises).
- ¨ Someone who plays physical or contact sports or has high activity levels will come in more often—every 2—4 weeks, especially if you play football, soccer, cycling, lacrosse, horse back riding, rodeo, roping, etc.
- ¨ The same for people who have physically demanding jobs in construction, ranching, farming, and mechanics.
- ¨ People who don’t have any disc injuries, osteoarthritis, reversed neck and/or low back curves, or neck or back surgeries can usually go between 6—8 weeks for adjusting,
- ¨ People who do have any of those structural conditions have had their pain syndromes for awhile and should come in a little more frequently between 3—6 weeks.
The bottom line is, if you are not on a regular maintenance schedule and you start to feel stiff and sore for more than a couple of days, you should call and come in for an appointment, before things get too far out of adjustment. It is easier to correct something before it gets too acute.