When we have no pain, we are happy, we are well, we think we are healthy. However, when we are in pain, we have two questions: how did this happen? AND how long is it going to take to get better? This video blog uses a simply example to show how long it takes to make changes in the nervous system with chiropractic care to not only get pain relief but also to get healthy! Transcription is after the video! Thank you for watching and learning!
I’m Dr. Paul Bajor and today I’m going to cover the second most common question I hear at the clinic. A few video blogs ago I did the most common question which is “how did I land up in this pain?” and the second most common question is “how long is it going to take to get out of this pain?”
Let’s use a real life example of how things work: behind me are two cabinets, one has plates and one has glasses. For 10 years we’ve had the plates in one cabinet and glasses in the other cabinet, and about a year ago my wife said that we should switch the contents around because one is slightly larger and would accommodate the plates better. I said “FANTASTIC IDEA! WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS YEARS AGO! WE MUST DO IT IMMEDIATELY!” So we changed the contents around. You can imagine how that ensued for the next while!
The first month I got it right maybe 10% of the time, by about a half year it was about 50%. A year has passed and about 80% of the time when I reach for something, I’m right, however under times of stress, where I’m cooking and it’s burning and the kids are yelling and the phone is ringing, the doorbell is ringing, and I need to reach for something, I will almost always go for the wrong one. That’s because that neurological pattern has developed for the last 10 years. Is it realistic that after one year I haven’t gotten it right yet? I think it is. Changing something that has been established for 10 years after one year is a really short time. Let’s apply this to your own health.
“Dr. Bajor, I’ve had this neck pain, or headaches, or back pain, or numbness and tingling, or whatever symptom, for a while here, and I’ve seen you now 10, 15, 20 times, and it’s a lot better, but I’m not quite there yet, how long is it going to take?”
We know that most pain, whether it’s gradual or sudden, will develop underlying for months to years. So is it realistic to think that after 10 or 15 or 20 visits we’ve changed these patterns? Probably not, no more likely than let’s say you’re trying to learn guitar song, or a new gymnastics routine, or you’re trying to get that short side top shelf goal, if you practice it 10, 15, 20 times, will you have attained that level that you want? Probably not. Changing patterns, nervous system patterns especially, takes time, effort, and dedication.
Let’s say you get to that point where you’re feeling well, you have no pain, is it realistic to think that if you continue along the same pathways that you did before, that you’re going to stay in that same good health? Realistically no! You have to SUPPORT that nervous system. You have to support those changes. If you learn that song or that new gymnastics routine or you consistently get that top shelf goal, and if you don’t practice that and maintain that pattern, in let’s say a month, are you going to be at that same level? The answer is again, NO.
Maintaining proper nervous system pathways and proper neurological health, which leads to your day to day good health, takes time, effort, and dedication.
At the very start that requires repeated chiropractic visits, and active icing and stretching. As you get further and you get out of the pain, you still have to maintain that nervous system, and you still have to establish those patterns. Those patterns have not been established after that short of time. If you don’t support that, and that’s through specific exercises and regular chiropractic care, you’re going to land up in the same scenario that brought you in.
You CANNOT expect to have that level of health you want without putting in some work. It’s not a lot of work believe it or not, but it requires some work. Making changes in that nervous system and creating proper neurological pathways takes time, dedication, and repetition!
Please feel free to visit our south clinic’s website at www.accesschiropractic.net and our north clinic’s website at www.accesschiropracticnorth.ca, and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/accesswellness! You can also call to book with Dr. Bajor at the north location behind the Superstore at 403-945-1349 or contact the south location in the Airdrie CO-OP at 403-945-0855 to book with Dr. Jacqueline Boyd!
Drs. Jacqueline Boyd and Paul Bajor are also both registered and active members of the ICPA (International Chiropractic Pediatric Association).
