Jim Rohn once said, “Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live”. Despite us knowing how important it is to look after our bodies, we are all at times guilty of failing to prioritise our health.

As wonderful and adaptive as our bodies are, they aren’t invincible. With busy – often stressful – lifestyles, physical challenges and a worrying trend towards people being sedentary, there are many lifestyle factors that can lead our bodies to break down unless we take better care of them.

Each month, we see hundreds of patients, with a vast range of health complaints. Here’s our tips on how to get the most out of your chiropractic treatments so you recover faster and stay well for as long as possible.

Pre-empt aches and pains

A common misconception is that we should only visit a chiropractor when aches and pains appear. Rather than waiting until you have a niggle or injury, we recommend that you have a health check up every few months to make sure everything is in order.

During this appointment your chiropractor will assess the function of your joints, muscles, ligaments and nerves, particularly in areas where you have previously experienced problem so we can spot anything that could cause problems in the near future. Having a health check up before you experience issues will not only save you the pain of a potential injury but will save you time and money on future treatments if the problem becomes serious.

A helpful way to think about looking after our body like servicing a car. Regular check ups and MOTs help to identify potential problems before they become real ones. With this in mind, consider investing in a ‘health MOT’, your body will thank you for it.

Quick diagnosis

If you’ve noticed a niggle, ache or pain in your body, we recommend acting quickly to avoid it developing into a more serious issue. Quite often, small aches and pains are an indicator that something is biomechanically dysfunctional and about to cause larger problems.

If an ache or pain has developed into a full-blown injury, then it’s even more important to see a practitioner as soon as you can to avoid further damage that could be more difficult to repair: injuries that are allowed to become chronic take much longer to treat and heal than ones that have only been present for a few days.

Commit to the treatment plan

Once your chiropractor has made a diagnosis, they will prescribe a course of treatment to help get you better and stay well. Each treatment plan is tailored to your specific needs and is designed to help you feel better as quickly as possible. A treatment plan will often include:

● A course of chiropractic treatments

● Exercises to do at home

● Nutritional or supplementary advice

● Adjustments you can make to help support your body

● A schedule of ongoing occasional care to stop recurrence

Committing to your treatment plan will help you to recover as quickly as possible and prevent the problem returning in the future.

Incorporate exercise and nutrition

As well as treating a wide range of presenting problems, our practitioners are also trained in exercise and rehabilitation and nutritional or supplementation so can advise on what you can do at home to aid your recovery.

Incorporating any recommended exercises is an essential part of recovery as they will help support your programme of adjustments and then strengthen your body and get it used to moving again.

Likewise, following any nutritional or supplementary advice will mean the problem is being addressed from all angles and you have the best chance of recovery.

Make necessary adjustments in your life

Depending on your presenting problem, we may recommend making adjustments in your day to day life to help your complaint heal and avoid it recurring.

For example, if you work at a desk we may recommend making changes to your workstation to avoid any strain on your neck and back. If you would like to find out more about this, read our tips on how to avoid back pain at work.

We can help

If you’re due a ‘health MOT’, a maintenance visit or are experiencing aches and pains, please get in touch. Our practitioners come with a wealth of experience and regularly help patients who are experiencing the following problems:

● General, acute and chronic backache or low back pain

● Sciatica

● Biomechanical neck pain

● Joint pains including the shoulders, hips, arms and legs.

● Headaches and migraines

● Minor sports injuries

● Muscle spasms and cramp

● Tension and stress

To find out more about how we can help, call us on 01935 423138.