Post treatment discomfort is pain or aching in the area of your body that a practitioner recently worked on. The pain is usually the worst in the span a few hours to 24 hours after a session, however, it can last several days.
What causes Post Treatment Discomfort?
The biggest goal of an Acupuncture or Osteopathy treatment, is to restore circulation and blood flow back to tissue. In doing this, we are also waking up your brain to question: “What is happening here?”
This is a great thing, to coerce the brain to re-form a relationship with tissue. This process is called proprioception. It’s a big fancy word that means “in relationship: responding, and/or communicating”. It is a reflection of how quickly or effectively our nerves are responding.
In short, we are waking up the brain, since previously, the brain response was sluggish.
Is post treatment discomfort a good or a bad thing?
A mild to moderate amount of discomfort can be a positive sign of the brain and muscles perking up and doing their job. Severe pain or excessively nervy pain, however, is less of a positive sign. Everyone’s body has a threshold that their body can manage during a treatment, which can only be discovered through trial and error. Generally, on your first treatment, we will do a more gentle treatment to evaluate how you respond. Even still, certain patients have unexpected adverse reactions to treatment. If you experience severe pain after your session, let your Acupuncture or Osteopath practitioner know as soon as possible. This way they can make further recommendations to help you.
So… Is the slogan “No pain, no gain” true?
For some people, this can be true – particularly for athletes and healthy individuals.
On the flip side, too much post treatment pain in a person who already has chronic pain, can cause a negative cascade of responses from our nervous system. Simply put, it can add stress and load and create pathways in our brain that make a person “oversensitized” to pain responses. This can cause muscle pain and fascia constriction.
Just like everything in the human body, it’s a balancing act.
I love the Traditional Chinese medicine quote:
“Not too much, not too little”. The ancient doctors said this about everything: “not too much alcohol, but not too little” etc.
Moderation is key, and it’s no exception here.
Ideally, we don’t want too much pain after an Acupuncture or Osteopathy treatment. At the same time, it is healthy to feel that the muscles were worked during a session.
To summarize, there is no need to grin and bear it next time you go for a treatment. Pay attention to the stress levels in your nervous system. If you can fully relax into the treatment, it is more than likely beneficial! If you can’t relax and are tensing your muscles, I encourage you to pipe up to your practitioner and ask them to back off a bit. We want to hear from you, since we are very invested in your wellness.
Finally, remember to follow all your post treatment care, and drink tons of water. This will greatly lessen the amount of discomfort you feel after your session.
Enjoy, and happy healing!
To read more about our Acupuncture and Osteopathy services in our Nelson BC clinic, click here
Osteopathy and Acupuncture by Monica Ander in Nelson BC 