Our patients' frequently asked questions…ANSWERED!
by Dr. Conrad Bush
Never feel like you're a nuisance when you ask questions. When a patient asks me a question, it's a way for me to know they're engaged and want to be an active participant in their care. Here are a few of the most commonly asked questions I get as a doctor.
How long until I should expect to feel better?
Healing time is difficult to predict. It depends on many factors including the type of injury or pain, severity of the injury, how quickly you sought care after noticing pain, and your personal history, to name just a few. Over the course of your care plan we expect to see improvement in range of motion, joint motion, better body control, and muscle tension. When your body begins to adapt and maintain these changes over time we expect better use of your body and therefore, less pain and dysfunction. Pain can go away before full healing has taken place. Think about how long a broken arm hurts (thankfully not 4-6 weeks) but don't take the cast off early when it stops hurting!
How long should this take to heal?
This can also depend on several factors. To better understand your condition we collect information like “how long have you been dealing with this?, “Have you had similar, or even different issues before?”, and what stage of healing you are in – acute, subacute, or chronic.
When we find out where you are in your journey it allows us to make better treatment recommendations. Healing times can be estimated based on research but the pain we experience with a particular injury is much less predictable. In general, we expect the pain to improve as the tissue is healing but we know the pain is often improved earlier than that. This is why we continue your treatment and assess how your body is functioning and not how it’s feeling. By doing this you can regain function and feel good at the same time!
Will I always need to get adjusted?
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