From time to time, we get the question, "How often do I need to have my spine checked? "  They wanted to show up once a month for a quick "crack"  or only when something hurts. The response: "It's like trying to put out a forest fire with a glass of water... your intention is right, but the volume is lacking." 

Yes, one adjustment in a lifetime is better than none. But if you really want to reap all the benefits that chiropractic care offers, consistency is the key.

People want to do the minimum work needed to get the maximum results. It's human nature. Quick fix solutions, drive through windows and get rich quick schemes all appeal to that part of our brain that wants results right now. And temporarily covering up symptoms or doing away with offending body parts is not an effective solution.  
 
Research by Tapio Videman, MD has shown that when subluxations are left uncorrected for as little as two weeks, and then corrected (spinal adjustment), there remains some permanent degeneration in the joint. It never goes back to 100%.The reason we check your spine weekly is largely due to this research. If we checked your spine on a once a month basis and you did something that created a vertebral subluxation between visits, the damage to your spinal joints would have some permanence before you got back to the office. Same thing with every three weeks and every two weeks. Outside of checking your spine every moment of every day, once a week spinal checks assure that you will spend the most time free of subluxation and functioning at peak performance.

I'm often asked by my practice members what specifically caused them to become subluxated. 

We're exposed to hundreds if not thousands of stresses every day that could overcome the internal resistance of the body and contribute to subluxations.

If we all had a warning light on our forehead that turned on when we were subluxated, we might know what stress (physical, chemical, emotional) was the final one -- the "last straw" -- that finally overcame our body's resistance and caused the subluxation.

We could then go to the chiropractor whenever our warning lights were on.

Unfortunately, we do not have that light and we cannot know when we are subluxated, because most of the time there are no symptoms associated with a subluxation.

So rather than waiting for enough damage to accumulate in a way that produces some noticeable symptom or health problem, we determine that it is wise to have our spine checked for subluxations regularly by a chiropractor.

Thanks Stamatis Tsamoutalidis, D.C. for this article.