Question
I have been seeing a chiropractor just over a week now.  We have had 4 sessions.  I have pain in my neck, problems turning my head, upper left and right muscle spasms, mid-back muscle spasms, lower back pain, and rotator cuff problems.  The x-rays indicated bone spurs on my neck - the doctor seemed to think it was quite serious-, a "forward carry" neck position, and some scoliosis.  The doc has done manipulations, traction, electrical impulse therapy.  He assured me that I would feel worse, rather than better "at first."  My question, when can I expect to see any improvement?  I am in more pain now than when I started; in fact my shoulder hasn't bothered me in a year until the doctor started to press on it and manipulate.  When he presses on the back of my head, the pain is intense and gives me a headache.  I'm about ready to stop going because I really don't feel any better, and in fact am rather worse.  Any advice?

Answer
Jennifer,

Thanks for the question.  This is a predicament.  I am obviously not present during your treatments so I don't know exactly how you are being manipulated; however, I would not expect continued worsening of symptoms after 6-8 visits.  It is not unusual in a case like yours to have an aggravation of inflammation and irritation when treatment is initiated.  Home measures such as cold pack applications and anti-inflammatory enzymes are usually very helpful in the abatement of these symptoms.

If you have not been using these measures, ask your doctor about them.  I recommend giving 2-4 more visits, and maybe discontinuing the traction.  Often times traction is great, but about the same amount of patients are aggravated by it.

Let me know how it goes and I will provide further recommendations if things don't go well.

Dr. Boss