If you’ve ever watched your favorite sports team play without one of their star players because of injury, you know about the frustration they must feel when they go out onto the field of battle undermanned or short-staffed.
Often the player is sitting on the bench, and looks okay to you – but the team doctors’ evaluation says that this player is not fit to play at this time, no matter how he or she might look on the outside, or even how they feel. The doctor knows to look for certain signs and details that make the player ready or not ready to perform, especially when re-injury would extend the disability and cost the team even more time without that player. Going back too soon might create an even bigger problem, and it’s the doctor’s responsibility to make that judgment call, to tell the player, “Careful, now!”
At times, your Doctor of Chiropractic may also ask you to refrain from certain activities. In the beginning of your care (for many injuries and in certain situations), you would readily agree to the wisdom of “not doing” and “not participating” in such activities.
But then, when the miraculous healing process begins, and you start to feel much better, you may begin to wonder if the doctor is being overcautious. Doesn’t the doctor understand that you have to … have to what? You fill in the blank. When you are feeling better, your nature is to want to return to your normal daily activities and habits … but it may be premature to do so.
Your doctor of chiropractic knows how to deliver your program of care, and how to advise you on what you need to do, and not do. This is why you have chosen to work with this particular doctor. Your chiropractor is an expert, and you greatly benefit from his or her experience in situations like yours. If you go back to “normal” activities too soon, worse injuries are possible. And, too often the re-injury complicates the recovery, sometimes making it tougher to get well.
So, if your chiropractor asks you to refrain from doing things that you may feel ready to do, please follow the doctor’s recommendations – when your chiropractor tells you to be “Careful, now,” it is probably good advice you should strongly consider following.