This is a very common question that I get asked when patients come in after the first adjustment. While, this answer is very simple and even more complicated than they may know at that time. On rare occasion, people after their first adjustment experience almost immediate relief from the pain. Well this does happen it isn't very often. Like most my patience to wait until the pain gets so bad and they just can't function in their daily activities that they finally decide to do something about it. 

Just like anything else in your life, the longer you wait for something, whether it's your tire being out of alignment, a crack in your foundation of your house or even something more serious concerning your health the more damage or longer it may take to correct the problem. It is just not reasonable for you to think that after one chiropractic adjustment, all your pain is going to go away, especially when you have ignored the symptoms for sometimes weeks, months, or even years in many cases. 

I recommend that it sometimes takes months or more for your condition or pain to go away, especially when you've been dealing with it for years. Many times your pain may not go completely away, but you just may have some mild or residual type of pain because you let things wear down too long which caused long term spine/joint changes that your body just can't go back to the way that it used to be. 

Another way that I explain how that first adjustment didn't make everything go away is when someone says "I ate something healthy, took some vitamins or I worked out today. Why am I not in shape or feel healthy already? Your health is something you have to work on every single day, the more consistently and regular that you eat healthy, get proper sleep, keep you spine aligned and exercise the healthier you will become. These key consistent changes will have a major impact on your life the more that you do them on a consistent daily basis. So don't expect that after just a good work out or eating a salad or even one chiropractic adjustment is going to correct all the health problems that you may be ignoring or even covering up with medication for all these years.  So just be patient, try to make the consistent daily modifications in your daily routine and get regular consistent spinal adjustments so your body can stabilize and help improve the quality of how your nervous system works and functions. Thanks for reading Dr. Joe.