__________________________________________________ Care Plans

Acute Care Plan
The acute care plan is designed for patients who are injured and/or in pain. Although the primary goal is to get rid of the symptoms, this plan can also reduce inflammation, reduce muscle spasm, minimize injury, and prevent injuries from worsening.

The acute care plan involves passive care – making adjustments, using heat and ice therapies, providing passive mechanical mobilization of the spine and related areas, and stretching.

Acute care is probably the most concentrated package, lasting two to four weeks. When all the visits in the package are completed, a progress evaluation will be performed to re-evaluate to see if the acute care needs to continue. Once acute care is finished, the option of moving on to rehab care is offered.

It is important to remember that while reporting feeling better is part of the evaluation process of acute care, we will be evaluating structural and functional improvement as well.

Recovery Care Plan
Once the acute care plan has been completed and/or a person initially reports to our office with minimal symptoms and upon exam shows functional deficit, the next step involves a little more commitment. This phase is called recovery care.

The recovery care plan focuses on the individual’s ability to perform the general activities of daily living, such as work tasks, dressing themselves, driving a car, doing a hobby or picking up their child. Active patient involvement increases as the doctor/staff and the patient work together as the patient makes their recovery. During recovery care, simple, pain-free exercises are utilized to help improve the cervical, thoracic, & lumbar spine, extremities, postural deficits, as well as learning how to perform these exercises at home or at work.

The duration of recovery care is highly dependent on the patient’s circumstances, but on average lasts an additional four to eight weeks either after acute care or upon initial acceptance as a patient in our office. Once the patient completes the rehab care package, a progress exam will be performed to determine if rehab care should end and the move to maintenance  care can begin.

Maintenance Care Plan
The maintenance care plan is for patients who have completed the acute and recovery care plan, as well as for patients who are interested in maintaining or improving other aspects of their health through chiropractic care. The type of maintenance care a patient receives should be based on age, goals, and the amount of time they are willing to commit.

During maintenance care, patients receive chiropractic adjustments to maintain healthy spinal and joint movement and many receive counseling about diet, nutrition, exercise, and ergonomics. Patients that experience the results of acute and recovery care look to maintenance care as a way of keeping their previous efforts.

Note: This plan can also apply to individuals on a case by case basis and may be appropriate for people presenting with minimal exam findings and/or have an exceptional health history and lifestyle.

Something to consider...
The care we provide is a partnership approach to better health. Some of your of your recovery is based on what we do, and the other is based on what you do.