Question: After you adjusted me two times when I injured my back last week, I was starting to feel really good and wanted to try and clean up my house over the weekend. The only thing I did was load a dishwasher and vacuum one room. Within just a few minutes of me working, the pain returned and I had to keep sitting down for short breaks before finishing. If I was feeling better after getting adjusted, why did the pain come back? --Thomas K., Punta Gorda, Florida
Answer: Thomas it is easy to fall into that trap! When it comes to the back and muscles, we can put a lot of stress/load on them before the body gives us a warning signal through symptoms such as pain, altered sensation, and/or functional problems. The body is self-healing as much as it can but when the cause of the problem is not addressed, symptoms then make an appearance, causing people to seek out chiropractic care. I get it…you are hurting when you come in for care, you get adjusted (correcting the spinal subluxation) and the body gives you a break by reducing those symptoms that brought you in for care. After you start feeling better… it is easy to want to jump in and catch up on all those things waiting for you like housework, yardwork, etc. but that is a high risk time for re-injury. It is easy to overestimate what you should be doing, you end up doing too much, and it causes a recurrence of what brought you into the office in the first place.
The body is very resilient and can compensate/heal from most things that we put it through. Just try to remember, symptoms are one of the last things to show up to the party when there is a problem. On the flip side of that, once you start getting adjusted and go through your treatment plan, thereby fixing the cause of the problem, symptoms can be very quick to disappear. That does not mean the underlying problem has been resolved. It was just the body's way of giving you a break on the symptoms while it continues to repair the problem. Just because you feel better does not mean you can resume normal duties, full steam ahead. Slow down, follow your chiropractic care plan, and let the body finish healing itself. Be patient, get further along in your care plan, then you can get back to business with a strong back and much less chance of re-injury!
Dr. Misty Green is a local Chiropractor serving the Cape Coral/North Fort Myers, Florida area for over 20 years. She can be reached at (239) 772-5777 to schedule an appointment. Check out our website at AskDrMisty.com for short and sweet video health tips.
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