Getting Pain Relief from a Chiropractor

When a person decides to go to a chiropractor, quite often it is for pain relief. The person is having back pain or neck pain of some type, and the person has been told—by a friend, family member, or family doctor, perhaps—that visiting a chiropractor could be beneficial. This is the most common reason anyone visits a chiropractic office—pain relief.

First Step toward Pain Relief

Getting pain relief from a chiropractic doctor starts with getting a diagnosis. After all, he cannot treat your condition until he knows what the problem is, right?

The type of chiropractor you visit will determine the diagnostic tools used. Straight chiropractors (the least common type of chiropractor) will use only their own assessments and evaluations. Mixing and reform chiropractors will, on the other hand, use any information available, including reports and tests from other doctors and medical establishments as well as x-rays and other tools.

Regardless, the chiropractor will have to come to some type of diagnosis before beginning treatment.

Chiropractic Pain Relief

Your chiropractor will now come up with a treatment plan. Again, this will depend upon the type of chiropractor you are seeing. However, much of the time it will involve some type of spinal manipulation.

Spinal manipulation—also called an adjustment—is done while you are laying face down on the chiropractic table. You must be in a relaxed position, not tensed up. For the manipulation, the chiropractor will direct a quick, short thrust to a very specific spot on your vertebral column. This is done in order to get your spinal column back into its correct alignment—which will thereby provide relief from the pain you are experiencing.

You may hear some popping noises—don’t be alarmed, this is merely the release of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. After an adjustment, most patients feel a sensation of relief; however, it can take a couple of days for the pain-relieving effect to take place.

How Many Treatments for Pain Relief?

This varies greatly from person to person. Some people need only one spinal adjustment and they have complete pain relief and never need to visit the chiropractor again. Other people might need to visit the chiropractic doctor once a week for a couple of months. Some people may feel pain relief that lasts for several months, and then may need to return for a spinal manipulation after that. It will depend upon your level of pain.