1 or 6 Visits?

Ask the Chiropractor-  Should I come in once before an activity or wait until afterwards?  Or do I want to come I 1 or 6 visits?  Dr Hulsebus breaks down what he recommends. #healthy815.  www.rockforddc.com. 

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- Hello. Welcome to another edition of "Ask the Chiropractor". I'm Dr. Brant Hulsebus, chiropractor here in Rockford, Illinois. I'm a graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic and for the last 17 seasons, I've been the team chiropractor for the Rockford Ice Hogs, the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. And so I started this podcast under the idea that often I hear people, or I see a news report where they discuss chiropractic care, and after the report's over, they tell you to check with your family doctor before you go. And I've also had other people say, I wanted to come see you, but I checked with my family doctor. They're not sure if I should see you or not. So I started this episode because basically your family doctor has no education on what chiropractors do, no more than he does what a dentist does. So if you want to talk to a chiropractor about what a chiropractor does or if you have a question about chiropractic, we started this so you could ask the chiropractor. And so this week's question comes from a patient. They asked me, Hey I'm getting ready to do a big project outside in my yard. Should I schedule to come see you before I do it? Or should I wait till after I'm done and then see you when I'm done, knowing that I might hurt myself while I'm doing the project. And so this is gonna be the same answer if it was doing a project in the yard or doing a project at the house, or maybe before let's say a weekend of golf, or maybe try wakeboarding for the first time or something like that. Should I see the chiropractor before I get into it or should I just go ahead and wait till after I'm done knowing after I'm done, I might have some aches and pains? Well, my standard answer for this is really simple. You can see me once before or six times afterwards because when you go into something and you're healthy and strong and you're ready to go, you're less likely to get hurt. You're less likely to have to sit around. Let's say you do it over the weekend. You're less likely to have to sit around Sunday night on ice and aching and in pain and say open up the app and make yourself an appointment for Monday morning, knowing that, oh, I overdid it this weekend. I'm gonna go in there and see him right away.'Cause when you come in to see me, at that point when you're already acute, you're swollen, things hurt. You can't twist or bend right. Your back's hot, your nerves are irritated. You're under a tremendous amount of stress, it often takes more than one adjustment to correct that. Sometimes it could take two or three or four or five, or like I just teasingly said six, in order to get over that. But if you came to see the chiropractor before, if you got your nervous system tuned up and your spine tuned up before you go into a project, before you go to do something, you're less likely to get hurt. You're less likely to need to come see me afterwards. It's easier to stay well than it is to get well. It's easier to be healthy than it is to get healthy. So by coming and seeing us before an event, seeing your chiropractor and getting a tuneup before you go to do a major lawnscaping project or a project around the house or a huge golfing weekend, then you're less likely to hurt yourself during that event. And therefore you're less likely to need care afterwards. I brought up the fact that I've been the team chiropractor for the Rockford Ice Hogs. I've also worked with the CBA Basketball teams when we had 'em here. I've worked with the indoor soccer teams. I've worked with all kinds of baseball teams, and everyone's surprised to hear when it comes to like sports chiropractic, we do the majority of our stuff before the games'cause the athletes have learned that if I get adjusted before the game and before I hit the ice, now I'm loose. I'm more limber. I'm able to move better. I'm able to bend and twist better. I can go a little bit faster and we've got tons of research and paperwork on the fact that athletes that get adjusted before events jump a little higher, run a little faster and improve their scores. I know there's chiropractors, they have their chiropractic conference, the big the football guys do like we're the hockey chiropractic group, the football chiropractic group, They actually do it at the Combine because there's such demand to get seen by these prospects before they run and get their scores before the draft to elevate their draft status. So there's a huge calling for that. So they all meet there once a year. It's always like the first weekend in March in Indianapolis. So us being part of the pro hockey player chiropractic society, I've been invited to that several times. So those guys just wanna get tuned up before they go. They know that if they hit the ice and everything's moving and bending, twisting good, they're gonna have a better game. They're gonna get called up to the Blackhawks more likely and they're gonna just score and skate faster. So the same is true for us, right? I mean, most of us aren't probably gonna get a major league contract, but most of that's true for all of us, right? If I'm gonna go out and see my cousins, the chiropractors over down across town and they want to challenge me to a game of golf, I'm gonna make sure I get adjusted before I see them'cause I'm the older cousin. I gotta make sure I still beat them, right? So I always get adjusted before. So it's always better to get seen before then afterwards. Now sometimes you still have to get seen afterwards. Sometimes we still overdo it. But if you would've got seen before and then you hurt yourself during the weekend doing the project, what happens then is yeah you might have to get seen again afterwards, but it might only be once or twice versus if you just waited and then came in, you might be coming in six times or something like that. So overall you get seen less, even if you have to get seen afterwards, you'll get seen less if you come in before the events. So I hope that answers your question, to the patient who asked me this, should I come in before or after? Hope that answers it. Before is always, always better. All right, everybody. Stay healthy and strong this winter. This summer, excuse me. And if you have a question yourself, if you've been curious about chiropractic care, wanting to give it a try. Maybe had some apprehension. Maybe you have an issue that you'd like to get addressed before you come in, well you can look at our previous episodes that we've done. Take a look at it, it's a huge library. Otherwise you could go ahead and submit a question at Rockforddc.com R O C K F O R D D C.com. And right there, we'll see your question. And maybe the next episode, I'll be answering your question. So again, I'm Dr. Brant Hulsebus, chiropractor here in Rockford, Illinois and "Ask the Chiropractor. Thank you.