Lower Back Pain – How Long Does It Take to Go Away?

Lower Back Pain – How Long Does It Take to Go Away?

How long does it take for chiropractic care to work?

Chiropractic results depend on many factors. Since when have you had your problem? Do you sit, sleep or stand with poor posture every week? Do you keep your appointments? Are you getting the right rest, exercise and nutrition? Are you otherwise healthy? Within a short period of time, usually in the first 3-4 weeks, most patients experience 25-75% symptom relief.

Because chiropractic treatment depends on each patient's healing abilities, results are difficult to predict. The longer a person has had a problem, the longer it usually takes to fix it. It is important to remember that if you had a lower back injury 5 years ago and were never treated, even though the pain subsided for a period of time, the problem has likely progressed further in the last 5 years. What I mean is that although you may have only experienced a few bouts of intermittent pain or discomfort since the original episode, if you haven't taken treatment to prevent this, it's very likely that your body has simply compensated and will continue to wear down or break down from the original injury. Even if this is the case, the good news is that much of the pain will go away fairly quickly with chiropractic care. It corrects and prevents recurrence, which is a more difficult and longer-term process.

Every patient reacts differently. Some see changes in a few days or weeks. For others, it may take weeks to months to show progress. For most adults, their problems actually developed after multiple traumas or microtraumas that caused temporary discomfort, a period of rest and improper healing due to lack of treatment, and then weakness and compensation of the surrounding muscles and joints. This very common scenario continues until it is stabilized or corrected, and this process usually takes many months or longer to fully correct or stabilize. In some cases, these types of problems improve over the years with proper aftercare or wellness care. The good news is that most pain goes away much more quickly.

Chiropractic adjustments are designed to correct misaligned spinal segments, restore proper movement to locked or dysfunctional joints, and remove or normalize nerve pressure in the joints and nerve roots that result in pain and false messages. Because the ligaments and other soft tissues that hold the bones in place have been stretched or injured, it takes time combined with normal position and movement in the joint for these soft tissues to heal with the bone in place. For this reason, adjustments for low back pain or other illnesses are repeated to correct or stabilize the cause of the problem.

So if you are simply looking for pain relief, it is likely that you will experience this within 2-4 weeks of receiving adjustments. If you are looking for longer-term correction, improved health, and a method to detect and prevent future problems, the process will take a little longer.

Inspired by Dr. David Ginsberg