It sucks when it happens, but unfortunately accidents do happen.  And sometimes, it happens even after a treatment session.  How can patients experience pain after a treatment session?  What is going on?

When you’re in pain, it is your body’s final reaction to long-term biomechanical error.  When experiencing pain, it’s crucial to understand your body’s fragile state.  After treatment, most patients feel immediate relief with lower/no pain.  However, this does not mean the root issues has been solved and your body may still be in a fragile state.

In other words, your body is like a vase.  If you chip/damage it, you have to fix it.  Treatment doesn’t replace the vase.  Treatment tries to fix the vase you currently have and helps add reinforcements to make the vase stronger.  If someone accidentally places a book on top of the vase before the glue sets, it can chip again.  Same concept with your body.  If you increase stressors to a fragile body, you increase the risk in injury.

Does this mean patients have to be extremely cautious with every movement?  No.  But it is important for all patients to take it easy, and be proactive in the ‘homework’ (rehabilitation & lifestyle modification techniques) given.  This is especially the case for our athletic patients who have trouble resting during training season.  Unfortunately, we cannot predict which movements may trigger such an injury.  What we can do is practice healthy biomechanical habits and minimize stressors to build a stronger body.

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