Many patients seeking chiropractic care are experiencing back pain or discomfort. Essentially, they’re looking for that much needed pain relief from a chiropractor’s treatment. But what happens if your back pain gets worse after a chiropractor appointment? Does that mean that treatment didn’t work? The short answer to this question is no. To understand why this happens, let’s take a closer look at what the treatment consists of.

Most people who come into a chiropractic office for the first time will tell you that they feel better after their initial adjustment. However, if you do experience any discomfort after your first visit, don’t panic! This is one common side effect of receiving an adjustment. You can take steps to help ease the pain and discomfort associated with adjusting your spine.

Why does my back pain get worse after my first adjustment?

While an adjustment focuses primarily on your back, the corrections that are being made to your alignment alter which muscles are active at a given time. This means the muscles you don’ t use often is used for a first time in a while, causing them to feel tight. When you lift weights, you may experience pain in your arms and shoulders the first time you try something new. An adjustment helps the body to balance the stress that it carries and reset itself. One way that adjustments help the body is by stimulating dormant or inhibited muscles, allowing your body to rebalance the stress it carries and re-calibrate itself.

Adjustment on your spine moves your vertebrae slightly. Your muscles have got to adapt to the movement, so they might end up lengthening or shrinking slightly, which could cause soreness. The soreness is connected to the movement of the vertebrae and not to the pressure applied by the chiropractor. Additionally, it can also be because of the release of the tension within your muscles, just like when you workout and get sore as your muscles mend themselves. As your body becomes accustomed to being in proper alignment the muscles will adjust accordingly, and stop being sore.

The more often you get adjustment on your back, the faster your body gets used to being adjusted and holds the adjustment better, which reduces or eliminates the post-adjustment pain. You can also apply ice packs to help reduce the length of the soreness.

In other words, if your back hurts after a chiropractic treatment, then you should not worry, this is remarkably a good thing!