A treatment plan will vary for each patient. I will try to lay out some typical parameters and guidelines here to explain how long some common injuries and symptoms I see in my office take to see/feel results. Of course all of these are just general guidelines and we have to take into account underlying health factors on a specific basis.
For acute conditions, most patients start to see pain reduction in the first 3-5 adjustments. This would be neck pain, shoulder pain, shoulder blade pain, low back pain and even headaches. These are conditions without shooting pain, numbness, tingling, atrophy or weakness.
For chronic conditions most patients start to see results in 2-3 weeks of care. Most of these patients are treated 2-3 times per week for that period of time. This would include conditions like sciatica, arm/hand tingling or numbness, migraine headaches, chronic back or neck pain, and disc herniations.
A little side note with disc herniations. There are different levels of herniations and depending upon the severity, of course we see increased treatment time with more severe cases.
On average, most new patients are seen twice a week for a week or two. More severe cases will need three visits a week.
After the initial acute care some patients continue with wellness care that is about once a month. Other patients prefer to use chiropractic for pain relief on an as needed basis. Our office accepts and works with both types of care depending on patient preference.