It’s not that bad.”
— Note from Wendy
If I made it to our Mexico conference I would not have been on 543 last night and would not have been rear ended! But that’s life. Minimal damage to the car and the kids were just scared. Me however not so simple, as you know I have had injuries in my back before. So of course my neck and back were tightening up in exactly the places I expected. Ice, ice, ice right father the accident and next morning as expected I feel twinges. As the day progressed more tightening in my neck as I turn my head and light pain in my back. Nothing to stop me from my activities; just a minor annoyance. The thought “it’s not that bad “of course come to mind.
But as a chiropractor’s wife I know “It’s not that bad” is the worst thing to say. Usually “it’s not that bad” is code for I am going to ignore it, it will go away, and in a few months or maybe a year I will throw my back out doing something stupid like tying my shoes. That is true, we really do get a lot of patients that throw their back out tying their shoes. But the reality is they injured their back in a car accident, sports accident, etc… weeks, months or even years before and “ It’s not that bad” caused them to ignore it. The injury progressed and caused damage little by little until the body gives out doing something simple like tying your shoes or doing laundry.
The truth of it is that when the symptoms are “not that bad” is the best time for treatment for a number of reasons.
- you can move without severe pain
- treatment plans usually have fewer visits
- the body has small amount of injury will take a smaller amount of time, money and energy to heal.
Th moral of my story is “its not bad” is a sign that it’s time to call and come in.