Depending on a number of key factors, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for chiropractic care to work.
IAs you contemplate what to do about your back/neck/joint pain issues, you’ll likely come to the conclusion you should consider pursuing chiropractic care. It’s a far less invasive treatment option as opposed to relying on prescription drugs for pain relief. It’s also a far less invasive treatment option as opposed to risking further health issues because of surgery.
The primary question that might cross your mind is, “how long does it take for chiropractic care to work?” In the sections below, the information will focus on answering this very question.
How Long Does It Take for Chiropractic Adjustments to Start Working?
First and foremost, answering this question is a bit complicated. Why? There are a lot of variables that a chiropractor would need to consider before making a good approximation. Every reputable chiropractor would hesitate to offer an approximate answer without looking at some of the key variables.
To give you an idea of how complicated it really is to answer the titled question, here are some of the variables that are worthy of consideration.
Determing how long it takes for chiropractic care to start working isn’t simple
The biggest issue at hand is trying to account for the fact every individual’s personal circumstances will vary. In other words, pain affects people differently, and the way they would respond to any treatment would likely be different. Let’s take a look at the variables that would create these differences.
The condition’s variables matter
Not every condition (injury or pain issue) is the same. Some injury or pain issues are more severe than others. The location of the injury or pain issue matters. The amount of time the individual has been dealing with the injury or pain issue matters. Also, it’s noteworthy that the cause of the injury or pain issue will even matter in most cases.
For these reasons, a good chiropractor won’t make predictions without gathering the information that’s relevant to the actual condition. They would certainly want to do this before proceeding with any level of chiropractic care.
Your overall health matters
If you are relatively healthy, it’s probably because you are eating right, getting plenty of good exercise, and often getting a good night’s sleep. By doing these things, it’s likely that your body is functioning as it should. That means your heart, respiratory, and digestive systems are healthy. That’s going to translate to improving your body’s capacity to heal because of good blood flow throughout your system. Conversely, bad health is going to diminish your body’s capacity to heal.
If a chiropractor is able to determine the quality of your overall health, they will be able to make a better approximation about the effects of chiropractic care.
Your lifestyle matters
The mention of eating properly, getting exercise, and sleeping right goes right to the question of lifestyle. The amount of stress and anxiety you have to endure in your day-to-day life will also affect your overall well-being.
Other lifestyle factors that warrant consideration would include:
- Smoking/not smoking
- Drinking/not drinking
- Marital status/Sexual relationships
- Children/no children
- Quality of social interactions
- Presence of mental health issues
- Industry of employment if employed
What Is Chiropractic Care?
Before proceeding any further, it would be prudent for you to have a basic idea of what constitutes chiropractic care.
Chiropractic care is a treatment discipline that focuses mostly on the human body’s neuromuscular skeletal system. It’s considered to be one of the least invasive ways of dealing with pain issues in the back. neck, muscles, or joints.
Such care is provided by a licensed chiropractor. When providing chiropractic treatments, they use a tool chest of manual skeletal system adjustment techniques and massage therapies. The treatment goal of every reputable chiropractor is to use adjustment/massage techniques to provide pain relief.
Sometimes, the pain relief is only temporary while some type of injury healing takes place. Other times, chiropractors aim to provide treatments that resolve body alignment issues for lasting pain relief.
What kind of pain issues does a chiropractor treat?
Since chiropractors deal mostly with the neuromuscular skeletal system, it stands to reason that they treat pain issues related to the nerves, muscles, and bones. Yes, that encompasses a lot of different kinds of pain. As a point of reference, here is a short list of pain issues that your chiropractor could treat:
- Back/neck pain due to spine alignment or disc issues
- Joint pain caused by joint tissue (ligaments, tendons) issues
- Pain caused by conditions like tendonitis, sciatica (leg pain), tennis elbow, and carpel-tunnel syndrome
- Chronic migraine headaches
- Pain caused by muscle strains
- Pain caused by injuries to muscles, joint tissue, and bones
How long will a chiropractic session take?
As you plan your busy day, it would benefit you to know how much time you should allot for chiropractic treatment. How long that might be would depend on several factors, including:
- The location of your pain
- The source of your pain
- The treatment options your chiropractor chooses to employ
- The frequency of the visits your chiropractor might prescribe
- The depth of your pain issue
As a general point of reference, you can expect your chiropractic sessions to last 15 minutes to 1 hour under normal circumstances.
Will improvement be noted from one session to the next?
If you have lower expectations, it’s possible that you might experience a small amount of pain relief from one solitary session. Whether or not that happens will depend a lot on your chiropractor’s intent for the session in question. It’s more likely that one session will make a difference as you move further along in the overall treatment process.
Will I experience further pain during my first chiropractic treatment?
Depending on the location and extent of your pain or injury, it’s possible that you might experience a little pain or discomfort during your first session. As the appointments pile up, any pain that you might experience during treatment should diminish.
To be clear, chiropractors use X-rays and pressure point analysis to identify the location and extent of a patient’s pain/injury. They do this so they can employ their treatment processes while causing as little pain as possible.
Is chiropractic care preferred over prescription drugs and surgery?
Due to the risks and invasiveness of prescription drugs and surgery, chiropractic care is always better if it delivers results. The other options would be preferred for significant injury or pain issues.
Who is a Good Candidate for Chiropractic Treatments?
There are two circumstances under which someone should strongly consider chiropractic care. The most obvious reason is to address minor to moderate neck/back/muscle/joint pain issues. If someone is experiencing chronic severe pain issues, a trip to a medical professional might be the right call initially.
The other reason someone might pursue chiropractic care is as a health maintenance option. Regular trips to a chiropractor can keep a patient’s body properly aligned. That will usually result in better overall physical and mental health.
What to Expect During a Chiropractic Adjustment
After determining the location, cause, and depth of a patient’s pain or injury, a chiropractor will select the appropriate chiropractic adjustment option. At that point, they will position (standing, sitting, laying) their patient so they can employ the right adjustment or massage techniques. This is done with the goal of pain relief and better body health.
How Will Each Visit Last?
The length of each visit will depend on several factors, the very factor described above in another section. Again, most sessions will run from 15 minutes to 1 hour.
How Soon Will Patients Experience Some Pain Relief?
In some cases, a patient might experience some level of pain relief from their very first adjustment. Otherwise, most patients will start reaping the benefits of chiropractic care within the first 3 to 5 visits. From that point on, improvement should be apparent with each subsequent session.
When is Seeing a Chiropractor the Preferred Option?
The decision to go see a chiropractor should be made when you start experiencing unusual pain in your back/neck/muscles/joints. As a rule of thumb, chiropractic care is preferred for minor to moderate pain issues.
When Should One NOT Seek Chiropractic Care?
Chiropractic care is not always the right course of action for pain. If you are experiencing severe pain issues, you might need to visit a physician or hospital. That will usually come from major injuries like broken bones and torn joint tissue. Also, a chiropractor will be of little use if the source of your pain seemingly involves body organs or virus/disease issues.
What if Chiropractic Care Brings No Meaningful Results?
If you and your chiropractor agree that treatment is not working, that would be the right time to see a physician. Clearly, something more significant must be amiss.
Combining Chiropractic Care with Other Treatment Options
There are times when chiropractic care is but one facet of an overall approach to treatment for pain and injury. While doctors are dealing with significant medical issues, a chiropractor might employ massage therapy techniques. This would be beneficial for patients who need to relax and want to increase blood flow for faster healing. It is recommended that all healthcare providers be informed about other treatments being employed.
Going From Comprehensive Care to Maintenance Care
As a patient goes through the treatment process, the goal is usually focused on injury healing and pain relief. Once those metrics have been met, maintenance treatments can help ensure old issues don’t become new issues.
Why Are Follow-up Chiropractic Adjustments a Good Idea?
Once an injury or pain issue occurs, it has a habit of making the body susceptible to further issues in the future. Follow-up adjustments are very useful in terms of making sure chiropractic corrections will have time to establish healing. It can also be useful in terms of preventing the occurrence of other unrelated issues.
Questions
How long does it take to feel better after seeing a chiropractor?
Some pain relief and improvement might be noted during the first treatment session.
How many chiropractic visits does it take to feel better?
Most patients will start feeling materially better after 3 to 5 treatment sessions.
How long does it take to realign your spine?
Two to three weeks or a total of five to six treatment sessions.
How long do the benefits of a chiropractic adjustment last?
For some patients, the benefits of chiropractic care might last a few weeks. Other patients are lucky enough to not have further issues for months or even years.
How to know if chiropractic is working
If you are experiencing pain relief, some level of healing is taking place. Things should continue progressing in a positive direction as you continue treatments.
What toxins are released after a chiropractic adjustment?
The toxins released during chiropractic care are toxins that come from impurities in food/water and air pollution.
How long after the chiropractor can I exercise?
Ask your chiropractor. Some patients can do light exercises from the first appointment on. Others might require some level of body healing before they proceed to exercise. Caution is definitely warranted for back and neck pain issues.
Why are chiropractic appointments so short?
A good chiropractor will know exactly where and how to make adjustments. It doesn’t take long to manipulate a portion of the spine or massage a specific area of the body.
