How should you feel after getting adjusted? In our office, we used to have dry erase boards in each of our treatment rooms. Every few weeks, we change the message on the boards to help stimulate discussion about chiropractic or general health topics. This month, we have decided to use the whiteboards to ask patients what they have noticed most since they began getting adjusted. In this blog post, I will discuss some of the responses we have gotten from patients in the past week and describe how chiropractic can help with a lot more than just neck pain and lower back pain.
How patients feel after getting adjusted: “My knots are gone!”
A lot of patients enter our office complaining of “tight muscles or knots” in their neck or back. However, as a chiropractor, I usually see that the problem is not an issue with their muscles, but with their spine. When a vertebra gets stuck out of its normal position, the muscles that attach at the vertebra are pulled. In response the muscle tightens up and “knots” are formed.
By adjusting the spine and putting the vertebra into its proper position, the muscles are able to naturally relax, thus improving the tight muscles and knots in their neck and back. Although massage can sometimes help temporarily with these knots, if the cause of the knot is a spinal misalignment, or subluxation, the knots will keep returning until the spine has been corrected.
How patients feel after getting adjusted: “My arm doesn’t tingle anymore!”
When a vertebra shifts out of position and begins to put pressure on a nerve, there can be three different results. First, a patient may experience pain at the location of the misalignment. In addition to having localized pain, since the nerves that begin in the neck extend to the arm, and the nerves in the lower back extend to the legs, someone might also notice either shooting pain, numbness and tingling or loss of strength in either the arms or legs.
By correcting the misaligned vertebra, we are able to stop not only pain, but also numbness, tingling and weakness in the extremities. Arm tingling can lead to permanent weakness in the muscles that are powered by the nerve, so addressing this as soon as possible can make all the difference.
How patients feel after getting adjusted: “I don’t get headaches anymore!”
People often think about chiropractic being able to help with neck and lower back pain, but they are surprised to hear that we can also help with headaches. The nerves that start at the base of the skull and top of the neck wrap around the back of your head and go to the forehead. When one of the upper cervical vertebra are misaligned, pressure on these nerves can start to cause headaches.
These headaches are usually referred to as tension or cervicogenic headaches, since they originate from the neck. These are common in patients that spend hours every day on computers or smart devices (which is nearly everyone). By adjusting the neck and properly aligning the upper cervical spine, chiropractors are often able to help correct these types of headaches. For a long-term result, additional exercises are usually recommended to keep the spine in proper alignment.
Now that you know that chiropractic care can help with a lot more than just neck and lower back pain, do you know anyone else that might benefit from seeing a chiropractor? If so, feel free to pass this blog post along to them. So, how does getting adjusted make you feel? Patient reactions after they get adjusted are varied, but generally positive.