Road to Recovery – A long term care plan

You have come for a treatment and have hopefully left feeling better than when you arrived!  As you start to improve you have a decision to make.  Do you continue with maintenance sessions to allow the body the time and support necessary to fully heal or do you stick with a one-off session and abandon the investment made so far?  Decision time!

I feel better, I don’t need any more treatments!

If you decide that one session was enough because you feel better, you are setting things in motion for a ‘feel better/stop treatment/relapse’ cycle.  This simply means that you have ended the treatment before your body is fully healed (despite feeling better initially) so you go back to your normal levels of activity but with your body in a weakened state.  This places it in a vulnerable position for further injury, strain, spasm and whole-body imbalance issues. So at some point, maybe weeks or months later, your pain returns and eventually you seek a further treatment.  You feel better afterwards so book no further treatment and re-enter the cycle.

I feel better, but will continue with a regular programme of care.

If you choose to continue with ongoing care you will find your visits become less frequent and although the progress will be less dramatic, the ‘feel better’ phases will occur quicker and last longer.  You will also be taught and encouraged to continue self care exercises to allow you to take back some control and manage your care between sessions.

A long term care programme.

By recognising that taking care of your body is a lifelong commitment, and not just something you do when things go wrong, you will start to understand the importance of receiving regular treatments even if things feel ok.

In the early days after a treatment you will usually feel a bit better, the pain should have decreased and your mobility will start to improve.  If you choose to stop treatment at this stage the relapse cycle is not too far ahead of you!

However if you follow up your initial treatment with a further one at your Practitioner’s recommendation you will be setting yourself firmly on the ’making progress’ stage where you should continue to see noticeable improvement after the second session.  At this point again you need to decide whether to continue with treatment or risk the relapse cycle.

By returning for a third treatment, usually 1-3 weeks after your second session, you should be starting to feel much better with most if not all of the original symptoms and pain gone.  This is the crucial time for committing to a long term care programme as stopping treatment now is still leaving you vulnerable.

By this stage your Practitioner will usually recommend sessions months apart rather than weeks.  Typically a follow-up would occur around 3 months after the third treatment with an ongoing plan of 3-6 monthly ‘maintenance’ treatments.  You may or may not have any pain when your 3 month follow-up is due but by attending this appointment your Practitioner can check your alignment and quickly recognise any potential issues that might be in the early stages of developing.  By treating them at this stage the problem is not allowed to build up and is unlikely to become an issue.

Think Preventative!

By continuing your treatment plan and undertaking the recommended self-care exercises you will find that your body continues to improve over the following months.  This is the time that you will be retraining and supporting the key muscles through correct posture and alignment, which leads to improved biomechanics, better balance and strength and ultimately an enhanced you that is able to function at your best.  Now who wouldn’t want that?!

I hope this has helped you understand the reasons why Practitioners encourage you to return for follow-up sessions.  We have learnt this for ourselves usually from personal experience and it is our responsibility to help our clients understand what they can do to take care of themselves.  There is nothing more frustrating than a client who has arrived in agony leaving their treatment feeling considerably better, then not following up on their treatment plan only to return weeks later with exactly the same issue causing them pain again.  Most back pain is treatable – and more importantly preventable – and we hope we can help you on your Road to Recovery.

For more information on pain relief through massage and the Dorn Method please use the top menu or click here.