At HML we treat our Chiropractic Adjustments like a workout. Not that getting adjusted is a physical workout, but your workout will go better with a plan, warmup and cooldown.
There are a lot of misconceptions, and even more videos out there about Chiropractic, or people receiving adjustments and it can make the process look fearful. A good Chiropractor will examine your spine for spinal subluxations (where the joints of your spine or body jam up and stop moving through their range of motion as well), explain the adjustment itself and perform the treatment within means of comfort of the patient.
If you were to come into HML all of that would occur along with our other steps to delivering the best treatment around. And that is because we are Neuro Nerds or Neurds. We understand that when you manually adust the spine it is VERY, VERY powerful. Traditionally, most Chiropractors adjust by manually “popping and cracking” the joints of the spine and remainder of the body (yes we if it’s a joint, like the ankle, we can work on it!). And like exercises, if your body is not used to it, then it’s a good idea to perform a warm up. We like to massage out the tight muscles, perform “scrapping” or Graston Technique, Cupping, or other modalities to prepare the muscles involved. We then may perform instrument adjusting with such tools as the Activator to “jostle” the bones into motion.
Adjustments are all about motion, adding motion back to the spine and instruments like the activator can be used as a standalone adjustment (so no popping or cracking like a manual adjustment). Afterwards we may offer electrical stimulation, cold laser, roller bed, flexion-distraction, or something else as a cooldown. All of this gets the spine buttered up if you will to accept the adjustment to go better and last longer. If you’re completely new to Chiropractic, or thinking about going don’t get tied up in all of those terms of therapies and modalities, all of that is for different post on a different day.
Have you ever been to a Chiropractor and felt the same as you did before your adjustment, the day afterwards? That is because like working out, your body is not used to it. But I guarantee it will be better with a warm up and cooldown. Afterwards you may be sore and that (like exercise) is something new to the body and soreness is ok. Soreness means changes were made. However worse pain, or debilitating soreness is a whole different issue. And on that note, depending on what your goals are, 1, 2, or 3 adjustments may not be enough. Ever heard of that saying “once you go to a Chiropractor, you always have to go”? Not true. Once you go to the gym, you always have to go? Not true. If your goal is to try it out, maybe get sore and not make any long term changes to your health, 1 and done is great. But if you would like to make long-lasting changes in range of motion, pain reduction, mobility and other benefits to being adjusted than being seen for a 6, 12, 24 or more visit plan is something to consider. See our post on Once You Go to a Chiropractor You Always Have to Go for more!