Is a Fast Chiropractic Adjustment Good?

Does time inherently equal quality?  Another way of asking this is:  Does time and quality have a linear relationship when viewed on an X/Y coordinate graph?

Any quick pondering over these questions should logistically reveal the answer to be no.  You can spend a long time on some project, and still have a poor quality result.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, you can observe an expert spend a short amount of time on their craft, and get masterful, high quality results.

 https://www.thejoint.com/utah/salt-lake-city/sugar-house-45001

Sometimes I overhear patients complaining along the lines of… “Last time I was here, the other doctor that worked on me seemed kind of rushed.”

My first response to that is one of sympathy.  But at the same time, I feel the need to question them.  Do you not feel the adjustment was still accomplished?  Do you not realize that at The Joint Sugar House, we see around 130 patients per day?  And that second question isn’t brought up to say, “We don’t have time to see you for more than X amount of time…” (even though, generally speaking, this is true)… But rather, it’s brought up to help patients recognize that we’ve seen it all! 

There’s a saying that says after you’ve spent about 10,000 hours practicing your craft, you’ve become a master.  Well, our doctors at our clinic have spent at least that much time practicing chiropractic, and then some.  And once you become a master/expert, it doesn’t take time to get it done.  We don’t want to waste your time.  We understand you have places to be.

Within this same context, I’ll see patients (either myself, or on the other table with the other doctor) who ask for more attempts on an area that’s already been adjusted.  Why???  It’s like they’re fooling themselves into thinking more “pops” can happen if they have “more time” spent on an area.  It could be said that if a placebo experiment were done on some of these patients with this reputation, they’d get the same result.  In other words, if (and that’s a big if, as this is only hypothetical) we were to give a purposefully lousy adjustment on a patient, but spend a lot of time doing so, the patient would be equally satisfied as their other high quality visits (wherein they unnecessarily asked for more work on already adjusted areas).

Some may view this as a rant, or as Dr. Martin complaining about patient requests.  It’s not.  It’s a plea for more patients to trust in the expertise of the doctors.  The biggest reason for this plea?  The patients who DO trust, and have quick in and out adjustments, are the ones who appear to rarely have discomforts and pains, and who have a generally higher level of happiness upon seeing us.  Maybe there’s something to this after all…

How routine Chiropractic Care can help Salt Lake City Residents live a Healthier life

How routine Chiropractic Care can help Salt Lake City Residents live a Healthier Life.

I'm not a big time Facebook user. Yes, I have an account but I don't post much to it. Sometimes I do get on it to check out what's going on and see if there's anything interesting. Most of the time I find some video that catches my attention and the problem becomes that after I watch that video there is other similar videos that appear under the one I clicked on and I click on those as well. Before I know it, over an hour (maybe even two) has passed and I can never get that time back. Therefore, I try to not go on to Facebook very often.

During one of these times that I have got on, I have noticed a certain video that has appeared. I have seen two different versions of it, both with the same message. Maybe you have seen this video as well. It is a video that shows a guy dressed in warmer clothes. He walks out of his house and looks all around at the sunshine, green trees and lawn, and the warm weather. He gets really excited, runs back in the house doing the happy dance. Goes to his room and changes clothes. He puts on his shorts and a tee shirt and tennis shoes. He runs downstairs and goes outside, only to find it covered in snow and freezing. The person who posts these videos says something like, "only in Utah" or whatever state they live in to demonstrate how quickly the weather can change from one moment to the next. It's a funny video and we can find it true in many cases.

The weather is the only thing that can change in a blink of an eye. At The Joint Chiropractic in Sugar House, I get many patients that come in with pain and tell me that they didn't have this pain before yesterday or this morning. They say there was nothing that they can think of to cause this pain they are having. Even this morning, I had one of our regular patients come in with the help of a friend. She was in tears. When she first came to see us a few months ago, it was for pain in her neck & upper back. We aware able to quickly help her get out of that pain and she has been faithful in coming in regularly to strengthen her spine to keep it from coming back. This morning, she was laying on the floor & when she went to get up, she experienced severe low back pain. She was having trouble walking without help. I treated her three time today to speed up her healing and with each treatment, she improved a little bit each time.

What happened to her? I told her I suspected that she was one of the 60% of people that are walking around with an asymptomatic disc problem. That is when there is a problem but no symptoms show. Then one day they come "out of the blue". This is another big reason why we at The Joint Chiropractic Salt Lake City we tell our patients that they should get checked regularly with Chiropractic to improve the health of their spine. As the old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". For more information go to:https://www.thejoint.com/utah/salt-lake-city/sugar-house-45001

Once you go to a chiropractor, you have to go for the rest of your life

A new patient came in to The Joint in Sugar House and was visibly apprehensive, so I asked him, “What’s wrong?” He replied, “I’m worried because once you start going to a chiropractor you have to go for the rest of your life.” I smiled and jokingly said, “That’s true – I know a patient who brushes his teeth – sometimes every single day (gasp).” Then in a more serious tone I reminded him that when Consumers’ Report reviewed the top treatments for back and neck pain in September of 2011, chiropractic outperformed all other treatments. I explained that I only recommend treatment that is needed for his condition – no more, no less. At a minimum I would simply treat his neck and back pain symptoms, but as a responsible physician I would also recommend the best care possible. I then proceeded to describe his problems and causes, the treatment goals, and how we would work together until we reached those goals. In other words, once his goals were met – treatment would stop.

You see, every profession has its myths and misunderstandings. Another I often hear as a chiropractor in Salt Lake City is, “If you get adjusted a lot, your spine will become loose and you will always need care.” Or how about, “Too many adjustments will give you arthritis in your spine.” It’s hard not to laugh, but these are serious concerns for some people. I’m reminded of the propagandist who said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." The fact is, none of these chiropractic myths are true and none of them have any research to substantiate them.

It’s important to understand that there are three main types of chiropractic care at The Joint in Sugar House:

1. Acute or crisis care – to relieve a new and specific pain. This is care to relieve a headache; a neck pain; a rib being out; or that new back pain that keeps you from getting out of bed. Pinched nerves, disc injuries, numbness or tingling, sciatica, accidents, and other injuries are other examples. Most of the time these painful symptoms are signs of a much deeper issue which will worsen the longer the underlying cause remains untreated. This care may take a few visits, a couple of weeks, or in some cases months. It depends on the age of the patient, the severity of the injury, and how long they’ve had it. (Unfortunately, some patients stay in this phase of care because they STOP treatments too early and never correct their problems; therefore they return to crisis and symptomatic neck or back pain relief care when their “problems” return.) 
2. Reconstructive care – to fix or restore function. This may be the second phase of care from an acute injury (for those who choose to continue care) or the beginning phase to correct a long term problem. The goal in this phase is to get the biomechanical structure of the spine functioning with the least amount of pressure on the nervous system. Examples include: “normal” back pain, arthritis, stenosis, and other problems that have never really been corrected in the past. 
3. Maintenance or wellness care. Once you have put the time and energy into correcting a problem, you don’t want it to come back. This type of chiropractic care is preventative. Resolving everyday stress and stressors is part of wellness care. Many of our patients simply want to STAY healthy. Our proactive patients and athletes fall into this category. 

To put it briefly, you only have to go to a chiropractor for a long time if you decide that’s right for you. Some people take vitamins all their life; some choose to go to the gym; and others will continue to eat healthy and choose the best foods to eat. It’s really a matter of personal choice. I guess it depends on what you want to accomplish, doesn’t it? The extent to which you choose to benefit from your chiropractic care is ultimately up to you. As for me and my family, I have chosen a lifetime of preventative chiropractic care and we are healthier for it.

-Michael Lindstrom, D.C.