It's not uncommon for patients to leave a chiropractor visit feeling sore or sometimes even worse than when they arrived. When you make an adjustment, your vertebrae move slightly. The muscles have to adapt to the movement of the bone, so they can end up lengthening or shortening slightly, which can cause pain. The pain is related to bone movement and not to the pressure used by the chiropractor.
It can also be due to the release of tension in the muscles, similar to when you exercise and feel sore as your muscles repair themselves. As the body gets used to being properly aligned, the muscles will adapt accordingly and stop hurting. The most common reaction to an adjustment is muscle and back pain. The muscles may be used to enduring poor posture or be weakened by an injury and are reacting to the disruption of these systems as the body regains its proper shape.
This change can cause joint and muscle pain. Feeling pain after chiropractic treatment is perfectly normal. It's the body's way of adjusting to its new posture. One of the first steps in the treatment plan is the initial adjustment.
It's normal for patients to feel pain after this adjustment. Once the spine is corrected, the muscles that are active and which are not active are changed. The most serious complication associated with chiropractic adjustments, which is extremely rare, is due to the worsening of an existing herniated disc. But what about patients who feel severe pain after a chiropractic adjustment? Is that also normal? And most importantly, if you are one of those who suffer from this, what can you do about it?.
