From Dr Kent’s Perspective
Last week, I saw a long-term patient—let’s call her Melissa—for a problem that, at first, didn’t seem particularly unusual. Her neck was acting up. This isn’t exactly unfamiliar territory for Melissa, who comes in regularly for wellness care and, from time to time, has something that needs a little more attention. She also has a good sense of humour about it, often joking that the “pain in her neck” is wreaking havoc. But this time, something was a little different.
We adjusted her on Thursday, and the adjustment went well. By Monday, things were better, but her movement was still limited, so we adjusted again. Once again, the treatment itself went well, but the improvement was minimal. By Wednesday, it was clear that we needed to change our approach. There was some rebound muscle involvement, so we introduced acupuncture instead. By Thursday morning, her range of motion had returned and the pain was almost completely gone. Not completely—Melissa described it as very, very mild—but it wasn’t interfering with her sleep or her normal activities. Sometimes the body responds exactly as expected, and sometimes it requires us to pay attention, reassess and change course.
That’s also why follow-up matters. Many people will simply wait it out for weeks, hoping that whatever is bothering them will eventually get the hint and resolve on its own. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes you spend three weeks turning your entire upper body instead of your neck every time you need to look behind you. If something isn’t improving the way you expected, let us know. We can reassess, change the approach, or determine whether something else needs to be investigated. You don’t have to simply accept that this is how things are going to feel and hope your body eventually gets around to fixing the problem.
From Melissa’s Perspective
Working at the front desk, you hear a lot of stories. You talk to people who are hurting, people who aren’t sure whether they should come in, and people who are trying to figure out how to get some relief. But there’s another group you don’t hear much about—the people who come in, have a treatment, don’t feel much different, and then disappear. Did it get better? Did they decide to wait it out? Or are they still hurting at home, quietly thinking, “Well, that didn’t work”? You just don’t know. And honestly, I think a lot of people fall into that last category. They try something once, don’t get the result they were hoping for, and instead of calling back, they simply carry on and hope the problem eventually sorts itself out.
That’s what made my experience a little different. After the first two visits, I wasn’t dramatically better. I had improved, but my neck was still very much reminding me that it had opinions. It would have been easy to think, “Well, I guess this is just going to take a few weeks,” and wait it out. Instead, we tried something different. The third visit built on the first two, and acupuncture turned out to be the change my neck apparently needed. By the next morning, my range of motion was back and the pain was so mild it barely registered. I could shoulder-check again without turning my entire body—which, as it turns out, is a surprisingly important feature when operating a vehicle. And it left me thinking about all those people who don’t call back because the first treatment didn’t solve the problem. Maybe sometimes the most important thing is simply letting someone know, “Hey, I’m still hurting. What else can we try?”