"Is It Going To Hurt?"

This is another common question I get at the office.  It's understandable. Especially for patients that have never been adjusted before.

How do you say yes and no at the same time?  Truth is, it might hurt a bit. Like a little pinch.  If I were to guess, that would be the most common answer I would get if I polled my patients after their first adjustments.

It might surprise you, but I think that I have the opposite conversation with patients at least as often.  I discuss patient comfort quite a bit with patients. I think it is an important topic. And not just for the quality of their experience.  In my view, the more comfortable the process, generally the better results. Not always, as there are exceptions. Sometimes it is just not that comfortable.  But that is not the case most of the time.

The unusual part of that is when I ask people about the comfort level of the adjustment, more often than not, people want to be tough.

"Get in there and do what you need to do!  I can take it!"

That's what I hear very commonly.  And sometimes I have that conversation with people, that it shouldn't necessarily be a 'grin and bear it' kind of experience.  And that it should be easy.

There is something to the old saying "no pain, no gain."

Life can't be lived without pain entirely.  No glory on the sports field. No child without childbirth.  No personal growth without painful reflections. Etc etc.

But at the same time, pain is something that is beneficial when we learn from it.  There is no point to hurting ourselves in our lives over and over again without benefit.

"All pain, no gain" should be a saying just as well, and one that we should know to avoid.

Long story short, I'm impressed by how many patients are brave and willing to take on challenge and pain to get better.  And I want them to learn the right perspective on "no pain, no gain," and that really we should strive for the most gain per pain ratio possible.  No need to be gluttons for punishment.

So the answer to the question is most often yes, getting adjusted does pinch a little bit.  Funny thing is that most people really like it. I guess people are funny that way.

And if you want a chiropractor that doesn't shy away from that kind of conversation, give me holler.  You can even yell at me about it if you like. I'm not afraid of a little bit of pain.

As long as it gets us somewhere beneficial it was all worth it.

Until next time, you can easily find me here:

www.jessedavischiro.com

- Jesse Davis