Chiropractic care has been proven effective for a wide range of conditions, but there’s been little research about the right “dose” of chiropractic. How many visits are needed to gain maximal benefit?

To answer this question, one study was published in 2018 that looked at people with one of the most common types of headache pattern: chronic head pain related to problems of the joints and muscles of the neck. This is also called cervicogenic headache. These patients had headache pain on the average of 4 days per week, week after week.

The patients were divided into 4 experimental groups. Each patient came for treatment 3 times per week; on every visit each patient received either a light massage of the neck area or a spinal adjustment.  Different groups received either 0, 1, 2, or 3 adjustments per week.

At the end of 6 weeks the group that received the most adjustments had the biggest reduction in symptoms. Their number of headache days per month were reduced by one half. The other groups had proportionally lesser amounts of relief.  And these beneficial results lasted for up to a year afterward.

The bottom line is that a more intensive program of care gave better results, which persisted over the long run.

Dr. Lavine has been an innovator in the use of movement and touch to promote health since 1981. He practices in New York City and Princeton, NJ.

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