I am hit with this question a lot from new patients: “Does it hurt? It looks like it hurts!”
My answer is always something like, “No. It usually feels great. But, sometimes it can hurt a little bit.”
If it’s going to hurt, it’s almost always because the area being adjusted is already hurting. Think about it this way: If you are going to the chiropractor because your hip hurts, if every time you bump into something with your hip you feel a bruised and sore feeling, and if every time you bend over at the hips you feel hip pain, then it certainly makes sense that when a chiropractor is adjusting (or even simply touching) your hip that you might experience some discomfort, however short-lived.
Have you ever stretched out a cramping and sore muscle? It might have been relieving but also it was probably sore.
Have you ever worked out hard at the the gym and you’re sore for a few days? Exercising was certainly a good thing, but sometimes even good things hurt for a bit.
Just because something causes discomfort in the moment doesn’t mean you’ve been hurt.
If a joint in your neck is locked up, injured and inflamed, then it’s already hurt. A lot of new patients come in with something just like that –> a sore area of the spine that isn’t moving right. They can’t look to the right, for example.
The way to get normal movement restored, and to get rid of the pain, is to work right at the sore area. That means treating the overlying muscles and getting them to relax enough to allow for a successful adjustment. Then it means putting enough force into the joint to get the (synovial) capsule to “pop” as full motion is restored. That pop and then relaxation of the spinal muscles around the joint are the things that help push that spinal joint towards normal, healthy function. Once that joint can move freely for a day or three the inflammation and pain will be decreased and the person feels better. They look left and right and up and down with no issues and the problem gets forgotten.
Now, I do admit that getting the joint to move normally requires a degree of coaxing. I can’t just ask the joint to move normally, I need to make it do that. That means I need to use force, and I need to do that in an area that is already sore. And I need to apply that force at the proper angle, with the right amount of pressure, and in a safe manner. The neck is full of important stuff!
Will it hurt? Maybe, for a moment. I’ll be honest, sometimes the person will be sore for a day or so, until the body works through it. Drinking a lot of water and applying some ice is warranted, for a powerful correction to the spine. Many people are never sore from adjusting, during or after. It’s not always easy to predict who will be sore, so we tell most new patient to expect some soreness for a day or two after their first adjustment. If you haven’t ever been adjusted, or it’s been years, then the first adjustment can certainly leave you a bit sore.
One last thing to note – being sore isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Of course no one wants to feel bad. But if a stuck spinal joint has been inflamed and sore for week or months, then it’s quite likely that the adjustment will create some soreness because a stuck and neglected joint is finally moving for the first time in a long time. I’ve had patients that took a few adjustment to get relief, and each time we got some movement in the spine, but not enough. Then, when a well-placed and right-on-time adjustment really hits the spot, the amount of joint capsule stretch and muscle release that happens can be uncomfortable in the short-term. The day or two of soreness from a good adjustment is way better than continuing with week-after-week or low-level neck pain that keeps you from enjoying life.