Diarrhea After Chiropractic Adjustment: What You Should Know

Are You Experiencing Confusing Symptoms? Know What to Expect from Your Chiropractor

Some medical professionals believe their treatment is the only way and don’t fully explain their treatments to their patients. A chiropractor should always treat their patients with respect and recognize that creating a treatment plan is a cooperative process that requires talking with their patients and listening effectively.

Ribley Chiropractic, Woodstock’s reliable chiropractors, believes that you should know what to expect from your treatments, even if that means broaching uncomfortable topics, such as diarrhea after a chiropractic adjustment. As part of a commitment to the highest ethical standards for chiropractic medicine, we would like to talk straight with you. You might experience diarrhea as a result of some chiropractic treatments, but this is a normal effect that results from a process called toxic release.

What Is Toxic Release?

Toxic release refers to symptoms that occur after your chiropractor corrects some misalignments of the spine, called subluxations. Toxic release does not occur for most people, but if it affects you, you might experience:

• Diarrhea
• Headaches
• Night Sweats
• Tight Muscles
• Tiredness

Of these side effects, diarrhea is often the most confusing for patients. Diarrhea is often a sign of poisons, harmful bacteria, or viruses entering the body. It is usually either the body’s attempt to get rid of toxins or a sign that your digestive system is not working right. So, why should therapeutic chiropractic treatments produce such unpleasant and worrisome symptoms?

Toxic Release and Chiropractic Adjustment

Correcting subluxations can affect how your brain communicates with different parts of your body, including your gut. If your digestive system has been working less effectively due to poor communication, suddenly correcting these problems sometimes causes a miscommunication between your brain and body that produces symptoms that at first seem like illness, such as diarrhea after chiropractic adjustment. 

Toxic release is the first step to your body healing from months, years, or decades of misalignment. 

Why Does Toxic Release Occur?

Your intestines depend on communication with your brain to coordinate the movement of food through your digestive system. If that system is not working effectively, your digestive system can become sluggish and less effective at doing its primary jobs: obtaining nutrients and eliminating toxins from your body.

Imagine that you are having a conversation in a crowded room. You will naturally raise your voice to make yourself heard over all the background noise. Your brain does the same thing when it sends signals to your body. Sometimes, too many of the same signals get sent, causing the body to react and leading some patients to have diarrhea. 

Toxic release can be helpful if it helps to clear out your digestive system, remove toxins, and restore balance to your gut bacteria. You should stay hydrated and pay attention to your health if you experience diarrhea after chiropractic adjustment, but it does not mean that the adjustment went wrong or that the treatment was harmful.

Your legs, arms, and neck might have been receiving weak signals from your brain as a result of subluxations in the spine. If a chiropractic adjustment fixes the problem, the signals to your muscles might suddenly increase in intensity. This increases muscle tension, giving rise to muscle tightness in the limbs, neck pain, and headaches. As with diarrhea, these symptoms should fade as the brain and body adjust to their new spinal connection.

What Does Toxic Release Mean for Your Health?

As your brain and body acclimate to the effects of each chiropractic treatment, the symptoms should subside quickly. The amount of time you need to recover can vary based on the degree of subluxation and the amount of time the spine has been out of alignment. If the symptoms of toxic release don’t get better shortly after your treatment, let your chiropractor and general practitioner know so that they can consider and rule out other causes for your continued symptoms.

Every form of medical treatment has some side effects. If you experience toxic release, it should not be a cause for concern unless the symptoms are unusually severe. In most cases, patients who experience toxic release can return to their everyday activities and experience a positive reaction to their realigned spine as soon as the symptoms abate.

Chiropractic Side Effects Compared to Alternative Treatments

Unlike many other medical procedures, spinal adjustments do not require invasive surgery or dependence on drugs and physical therapy during the recovery period. The minor symptoms of chiropractic medicine are, in many cases, better than the alternatives offered by other medical specialties. 

Patients should be aware of the risks and potential benefits of all treatments so that they can make informed decisions. Discuss any treatments and symptoms that you might be experiencing with your chiropractor, your general practitioner, and any other doctors you are seeing. 

Chiropractic Care With Ribley Chiropractic 

At Ribley Chiropractic, we are proud of our track record of reducing pain, reducing stress, and boosting energy for our patients in the Woodstock, GA, area for over two decades. We look after our patients’ health holistically, with treatment plans that include regular chiropractic care, spinal realignment, therapeutic massage, and other time-tested techniques. 

Ribley Chiropractic, a compassionate chiropractic care provider in Woodstock, GA, will address your questions and concerns about chiropractic medicine with openness, honesty, and a commitment to customer service. We want you to understand all of the side effects of chiropractic medicine you may experience during the adjustment period, including diarrhea after chiropractic adjustment and the elimination of neck pain from poor posture. Learn more about chiropractic care by calling 770-592-2505 or booking your appointment online today.