By: Jill Hass, Office Manager Extraordinaire

We’ve seen a lot of trends with our patients over our 21 years in business! We’ve seen patients make some mistakes that end up costing them more money, more time, and get in the way of them recovering fully. I hope by sharing what we’ve observed we can save someone the cost of making the same mistakes. Here’s a list of the mistakes we see most often:

1. Waiting too long before starting care
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard patients say that they’ve been experiencing symptoms for weeks, months, and even years before calling for an appointment. They thought the pain would go away after taking some pain pills or waiting for it to go away on its own. Instead of improving, their condition becomes worse and it takes longer to get them back to good health. They end up spending more money to fix a bigger problem because they waited too long. Now the issue is deeply imbedded, forming scar tissue, arthritis, and bad muscle patterns.

2. Stopping treatment as soon as they start to feel better
We’re always happy that people start to feel better fairly quickly after starting care, but pain reduction is only a part of the goals of treatment. Pain is usually the first to disappear but there is still work to do to stabilize the structure of the body, improve muscle strength, and improve range of motion. If someone stops care too soon, these things don’t happen and they can slip back to where they started from. Think of a broken arm. In three days, you will most likely have no pain but would you take the cast off your arm before the recommended 6 weeks?

3. No periodic maintenance care after completing a treatment plan.
Tune ups are something that people understand for their cars, but not for their bodies. Oil changes, tire rotations, and periodic check-ups help your car perform at its best and find small problems before they become emergencies. The same goes for tune ups from a chiropractor. It’s always hard to see someone return after a year or two and they have slipped back to be in the same condition, or worse off, than when they first started because they didn’t keep up any maintenance. We are all facing the aging process. A tune up once in a while is a lot cheaper than having to complete another long treatment plan to regain health. Recently we had a woman return to our office who had a disc herniation and severe arthritis. Guess what condition she was in after a year with no treatment? If you guessed, “in a lot of pain and could barely walk”, you are right.

4. Returning to activities too quickly
People love their ski trips, running, weight lifting, and other sports and are eager to get back to these activities once they start to feel better. Returning to these activities too soon during treatment can jeopardize your progress and result in further injury. Again, pain reduction is just a small part of recovery. Strengthening exercises and stretches should always be included in a treatment plan and the doctor will let you know when it’s safe to do more. Sometimes certain injuries, like a herniated disk, will require you to limit your activity level for an extended period of time, and you should get realistic guidance about your limits from your chiropractor.

5. Wanting a treatment before getting an exam
The initial intake exam is a very important part of the chiropractic process. It allows the doctor to review your health history and perform a variety of tests to gauge your limitations of movement, whether your muscles are working properly, and what kind of nerve function problems you are having. Most importantly, the exam tells us what the cause of the problem is and allows the doctor to formulate a specific treatment plan to fix it.

6. Believing in insurance fairies
What are insurance fairies? They are the magical mythical insurance fairies that swoop in to pay for all your healthcare with no limitations. The reality is that insurance coverage is getting worse every year. The good news is that Chiropractors (and other medical professionals) usually have a discount if you pay out of pocket (no insurance billing) or have payment plans to extend the time to pay. A thorough check of your coverage before you start care can determine how much insurance might pay towards the treatment and if the patient would pay less using the self-pay discount. Don’t be one of those people who doesn’t start care because your insurance won’t pay for it, it’s affordable and it’s your body, you only get one!

7. Going to the wrong type of doctor for treatment
Chiropractors are the only type of doctor that is trained to find and correct misalignments of the spine and other joints. M.D.’s (other than orthos) have a general knowledge of spinal issues but it is not their specialty and not what they treat every day. The only answers they have for these issues is drugs or surgery. Drugs just cover up the symptoms and the problem may not be bad enough that surgery is the only option.

The take away
Pain is definitely something you should pay attention to. It is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Seek help sooner rather than waiting so you spend less time and money on your recovery process. Most people don’t know that misalignments of the vertebrae, left untreated over time, can lead to bigger health problems than just a sore back.
Chiropractic care is a process. If you give it time and follow the doctor’s advice, you will see some great results and you should be able to keep the progress you’ve made by coming in for periodic tune ups. I’ve seen countless people who could barely walk into our office the first day but after completing their treatment, they are feeling great and are able to return to all of their normal activities, including sports.
Lastly, discuss all of your payment options. It may be cheaper for you to not use your insurance and avoid high deductible or out of network copays.