Just as there are many different chiropractic techniques and practice styles, there are many opinions on how regularly one should have their spine checked. Here is the reasoning behind Mind & Body Chiropractic's recommendation of no less than once weekly spinal checks for you and your family.

Dr. Ogi Ressel is an international lecturer, a pediatric and x-ray specialist, researcher and clinician. According to an article he wrote to chiropractors around the world, "Many chiropractors often schedule patients for a once-a-month maintenance adjustment based on the idea that monthly maintenance adjustments will help prevent and alleviate many problems. In reality, monthly adjustments are promoted because most chiropractors feel that this is the visit frequency that most people will "buy into" as a preventative measure."

Dr. Ressel confronts the chiropractic profession with this reality - "In essence, when most chiropractors place patients on a monthly maintenance schedule, they are simply maintaining their problems..." Here is Dr. Ressel's reasoning:

1. First of all, research done by Tapio Vidman, M.D., D.M.Sci., (a Researcher in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine), tells us that a subluxation, once formed, will cause an inescapable degeneration progression if it is allowed to remain for more than 10-15 days (published in Clinical Biomechanics 1987). Other research on subluxation degeneration, states that microscopic degenerative changes to the hyaline cartilage which surrounds your spinal joints can begin to occur within forty-eight hours of the occurrence of a subluxation!

2. According to Dr. Ressel, "Most doctors do not see their patients on an appropriate schedule of care in order to be able to really correct their subluxation pattern, and it is a pattern. It is a neurological habit the body becomes accustomed to, and it most often starts in children."

"Patients need to be placed on a schedule of care that will actually cause their subluxation pattern to be broken. The correction of subluxation patterning is most important in children."

For these reasons Mind & Body Chiropractic recommends a spinal check at least once a week you and your family regardless of the presence or absence of pain and symptoms.

Thanks to Tony DeCosta, DC and Sasso Family Chiropractic Center for the inspiration behind this article.