The San Clemente Chiropractor to see - Chiropractor San Clemente

“But That’s Not Where It Hurts!”

People usually come in for their initial visit because they are in pain. Perhaps they are experiencing profound neck pain, lower back pain, or maybe even migraines.

And, most times when patients enter our practice, they believe that their pain must be originating in the same area of their body where they feel it. So, if they have low back pain, the underlying cause of the pain must be in the lower back.

But often, that just isn’t the case!

The key to pain management and relief is to locate the exact source of the pain and correct the nerve interference or subluxation that is present in that area to relieve the disturbance that it is causing elsewhere in the body.

Here’s an example that you might find easy to relate to. Your dog yelps when you step on his tail. The yelp isn’t the source of the pain; it’s a symptom of the pain or a reaction to the pain that he felt in his tail when you stepped on it. Preventing him from crying out doesn’t solve the problem because the source of the pain is in his tail!

Let’s say a patient comes in with low back pain. After performing some diagnostic tests, palpating the spine and maybe taking some pictures, the neck might prove to be the cause of the low back pain. Yet, when the neck is adjusted, the patient might remark, “But Doc, that’s not where it hurts!” That’s because the patient doesn’t yet understand the concept that the symptom may not occur in the same place as the cause!

This is known as a compensation reaction. Let’s look at another example. You’re going on a trip and you arrive at the airport. You have a carry on bag on your left shoulder and you’re carrying a suitcase that’s twice as heavy in your right hand. Which way does your body lean? You might think it would lean to the heavier side which is the right side, but actually, it will lean to the left to compensate for the excess weight on the right.

So, don’t be surprised when you come in and you’re not adjusted in the particular area where you're feeling pain. It just might be that the nerves that are affected by a subluxation in a different area of your spine are causing the pain that brought you in to our practice in the first place!