12/11/2025
What I teach every new patient in my office
In my office, I keep chiropractic very simple, very practical, and very grounded.
No abstract “philosophy,” no talk of innate intelligence — just what we actually do, why it works, and what patients can realistically expect.
1. Chiropractic is primary, conservative care.
Patients should think of chiropractic the way they think of dentistry or physical medicine — a first-line, low-risk, conservative option for the most common musculoskeletal and movement-related problems.
We don’t claim to fix everything under the sun.
What we do is restore proper function, and when you restore function, about 90–95% of the most common complaints people experience start improving very quickly.
That is chiropractic’s true power.
2. We address two main issues: alignment and movement.
A. Alignment (mostly in the upper neck)
Sometimes vertebrae — especially in the upper cervical spine — are not sitting or moving the way they should.
A precise adjustment puts them back into a better mechanical position, and this often produces an immediate improvement in:
strength
balance
coordination
mobility
pain levels
But alignment is only a small portion of what’s happening.
B. Restoring movement to damaged, inflamed, or adhesed tissues
Most long-term problems come from faulty movement patterns, not a single “bone out of place.”
Over time, restricted joints and overloaded muscles create:
inflammation
adhesions
calcification
altered neuromuscular firing
chronic pain
Chiropractic adjustments — when done well — restore motion to these dysfunctional segments and tissues. This reduces stress on the area, improves neurological function, and allows the tissue to begin healing.
The healing lags behind the correction, because damaged tissues need time.
But patients usually feel some improvement within the first few visits.
3. What the care plan looks like (simple and predictable)
I explain to every patient the timeline of tissue healing and correction. It’s straightforward:
Phase 1: Correction
2x/week for the first month
Goal: restore proper mechanics and movement quickly.
Phase 2: Stabilization
1x/week for the next two months
Goal: allow tissues to strengthen, heal, and stabilize while movement stays correct.
Phase 3: Wellness (patient’s choice)
Usually once or twice a month
Goal: maintain good mechanics and prevent problems before they build up.
Some people later reduce to once per quarter; others prefer every two weeks.
It depends on their body, lifestyle, and goals.
4. Chiropractic works because it restores the conditions for healing
People don’t need a lecture on “innate intelligence” to understand why chiropractic works.
They understand:
joints that don’t move correctly break down
muscles that compensate eventually hurt
nerves can’t fire normally when the mechanical environment is dysfunctional
restoring proper mechanics removes the stress and lets the system work
That’s chiropractic.
Simple.
Functional.
Predictable.
Rooted in physiology, not mysticism.
5. When patients understand this, they stay for the right reasons.
They’re not in chiropractic care because of loyalty to a philosophy.
They’re in care because:
they move better
they function better
they feel better
flare-ups become rare
they understand the mechanical logic behind the process
Once they experience that, the “wellness” decision becomes obvious — and it comes from them, not from pressure.
-Dr. Steve
