Most patients presenting  with a painful stiff back are immediately surprised how much better they feel immediately following initial treatment, however very severe cases where the protective muscle guarding is extremely strong only slight or even no improvement immediately may be noticed due to the severity of the inflammation.

 

Furthermore any treatment of a rigid severely inflamed back, even though structural correction may be achieved, inflammation may be initially worsened. The structural corrections however will ultimately decrease this inflammatory response after 24-48 hours.

 

The majority of patients immediately following treatment notice much more freedom of movement and less pain moving. Over the next few hours, some retightening of muscles will occur as the released muscles commence to protect the mobile but still inflamed joints.

 

Extreme care must be taken especially during the first 48 hours following adjustments not to shock these inflamed joints and not to trigger protective muscle guarding to recommence sending the muscles into spasm.  All movement needs to be slow and considered while the joint and muscle inflammation subsides.  Avoid all lifting and bending tasks and particularly avoid rapid jerky movements and extreme twisting.

 

Most patients report that after the second day they feel the best results as the inflammation subsides. As inflammation and protective muscle guarding subsides gradually activity levels can be increased. If the pelvis and spine are not yet fully balanced following the initial treatment a follow-up visit after a few days is required so that correction and balancing can be continued and to prevent  deterioration and possibly losing much of the ground achieved in the first visit. Your Osteopath will advise you on when it would be best to follow up.

 

The type and severity of back problems differ so the timing of follow-up visits is very important in limiting deterioration between visits and therefore minimizing the number of visits required to correct your problem.

 

With each visit as your pelvis, spine and muscles become more balanced regression between visits slows and the time interval between visits can slowly be extended and activity and exercise can be gradually increased.

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