5 Things That Can Help You Before Your Chiropractic Appointment

Things to try to help you before your appointment…

1. Movement

More often than not, when you have an ache or pain, movement is better than doing nothing. When things feel restricted or tight, the worst thing you can do is just sit down and put up with it. Gentle motions are best here so that you can keep things mobile and keep those muscles as warm as you possibly can without overdoing it.

2. Don’t overdo it

Some people definitely think exercise and stretching is the way forward when they get aches and pains, but actually, doing this in the early stages when things are painful, can make it worse or even lead to extra injuries. So reduce it for the short term. We will let you know when it’s the right time to bring your exercise routine back so you can help yourself strengthen the areas that need to be strengthened. 

Strengthening doesn’t always help an ache or pain because sometimes things are naturally contracted and you actually just need to let it relax. But again, let us figure it out beforehand, to make sure you’re doing the right thing at the right time.

3. Consider using cold or heat

Now there are varying bits of evidence on both of these as to whether you should try one before the other. Our advice is to always start with cold first. 

The reason for that is because cold acts as an actual pain reliever and can also help to remove some of the inflammation within the joints in or around the body. So getting a pack of frozen peas wrapped in a towel on the area that is sore, may help in those first stages of having an ache or pain. 

Heat ends up helping where muscles are tight and it can really assist in relaxing the muscles out a little bit. But it can increase the inflammation and the puffiness within the joints itself. What you really want to do in those first stages is make sure you can move it a little bit more rather than to relax those muscles. So if you can reduce that inflammation by using cold to start off with, you’ll probably find things feel a little bit easier, then you can support that with heat later. 

If in doubt, we advise using cold, just make sure you wrap whatever you are using in a towel so that you don’t burn yourself!

5. Get your medical history

We will ask you to fill out a form before you come in for your first session but we will also ask you some additional questions about your medical history when you come in. So it’s always a good idea to review and check what has gone on in your past. 

Often very insignificant things (or things that may seem insignificant) can become very relevant as we go through that initial consultation. It’s really useful for us to get a rough idea on what is happening in your case.

We hope this post gives you some help before your Chiropractic appointment. If you have any thoughts, queries or comments at any time before your appointment (or ever!), you are more than welcome to get in touch with us. Alternatively, feel free to post in the comment boxes below.