Chiropractor Questions Chiropractor

How do you know if a chiropractic adjustment is working?

I am a 24 year old male. I wonder how can I know if a chiropractic adjustment is working?

5 Answers

I am not quite sure what type of symptoms you’re having or whether it was an injury or possibly a strain/sprain. When you seek a chiropractic consult the doctor should give you a complete examination and explain to you what is the cause of your symptoms and what he is she has decided to manage it. In my experience 5 to 8 visits to the doctor of chiropractic, you should see improvement.
The goal of Chiropractic treatment is the restoration (insofar as possible) of normal musculoskeletal function. This would mean full range of motion without pain. Doctors of Chiropractic utilize Chiropractic adjustments (spinal manipulation), physiotherapy, stretching, etc., to attempt to reach this goal. Everyone is different; however, each treatment (Chiropractic adjustment) should incrementally move a patient towards the goal of full, unrestricted, pain free movement. The Chiropractor should perform objective, periodic re-evaluations to document progress. Patients should notice progression in terms of decreased symptoms and increased range of motion. It is important to note; some patients progress more quickly than others, some may temporarily regress, and some treatment sessions are more effective than others. However, overall, there should be progress. If not, the Chiropractor should change the treatment or refer to another specialist.
Your doctor of chiropractic should be able to provide you with feedback from clinical presentation and measurements of improvements to correlate with the potential improved feelings you should be noticing from your care. Depending upon what brought you into the clinic, the level of clinical history and damage and the approach your doctor is taking to remove nerve pressure will determine your treatment plan to success.
Thanks for the question. The answer is initially we look forward improvements in the patient’s symptoms. Once the symptoms have resolved and the patient is undergoing corrective/stabilization care, we re-exam periodically looking for improvement in objective testing. Hope this helps.

Jay H Schwartz, DC, DIBCN, DIBE
Increased range of motion, decreased pain, and decreased swelling are good indicators that the adjustments are working.