It is important to remember that, while pain tablets may be a quick fix, addressing the cause of pain will lead to the best outcome. Dealing with the heart of the issue sooner may prevent years of pain for you in the future.
How do I know that my pain treatment is working if I don’t feel better in the first few visits?
Not yet feeling 100%? Understanding your treatment plan is important for reaching your health goals.
Sometimes it can be confusing to try and workout why your pain is coming and going or symptoms are not resolving as fast as you’d like. However in certain instances, symptoms are not the best way to gauge your progress.
Many problems develop over a period of time. Even if the pain is new, it can be easy to expect a quick fix because this is how pain relief is advertised. However, it is most important to treat the cause of pain rather than relying on symptomatic relief. Chiropractic treatment aims to not only calm nerve pain, but also to assist the body in correcting poor movement patterns that, overtime, may lead to chronic pain.
Focusing on the underlying cause can take time because the body has a natural and individual rate of healing. This depends on many factors such as the level of physical or mental stress put on the body on a daily basis, how long problems have existed and how complicated the original issue has become. For example, a hip problem may overtime affect the shoulder or neck as a result of the body compensating through use of incorrect postures and patterns of muscle activation. In order to fix the shoulder problem the chiropractor may need to start by addressing the original problem in the hip even if there is no longer a pain pattern in that area.
To consider how much time the body needs to properly heal an injury, think about a broken bone. In this case, a plaster cast is usually required for period of at least 6 to 8 weeks to account for the healing time of the bone. In the same way, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves require time and consistent attention to heal properly. For this reason, it is important to complete the treatment course devised by your chiropractor. Ensuring treatment completion can also help to prevent recurrence of the issue in the future. The goal is to get the body functioning optimally so you will be performing well and may minimise pain in the long term.
