Yorkville Chiropractic – Dr Alex Ritza
Rated one of Toronto’s Best Chiropractors
“Doc, how long is it going to take to fix my ______” ….
is one of the most common questions I get when I review someone’s case with them. What most people are often asking is “how long is it going to take for me to FEEL better”.
As a Corrective Chiropractor, my job is always to try to convince people to ask the better questions “How long is it going to take to fix the underlying problem behind the symptoms?” and/or “How long will it take more my body to work optimally again?”
Before I can answer that question for most patients, it is important to know what is actually happening when we say “heal” or “fix” things in the body.
You Get A New Body Every 10 Years
You might not have realized it but every 10 years or so, your body is completely new. The body you have at this current moment is not the body you had on your last birthday, or the one that took you on your last vacation and without question is completely different from the body you had 10 years ago. Almost every bone, muscle, ligament and organ is a different one than you had previously.
Your body evolves with time because the cells that make it up are constantly dying and regenerating. Every day millions of your cells die and millions more are formed to replace them. Here are a few examples:
- 10% of your skeleton is replaced per year (new skeleton every 10 years!)
- Fat cells are replaced every 8 years
- Liver cells are replaced every 0.5 – 1 year
- Red blood cells live for only 120 days
- Small intestine cells live for a measly 2-4 days
Almost every single cell in your body will be replaced many times before your life ends. While it might seem inefficient to be tirelessly using resources to replace existing cells, it is necessary. Your tissues always need replacing because like any “machinery” they are prone to breaking down!
The inside of your body is an incredibly hostile environment. Cells are regularly under attack from foreign invaders like viruses, bacteria, and dangerous organic substances we consume. Our cells are also exposed to relatively high concentrations of toxic chemicals like hydrogen peroxide and metabolic byproducts. These invaders and substances damage or outright destroy our cells. Even ultraviolet light from the sun can penetrate the skin and result in damage to cellular organelles and DNA.
Thankfully, the body is incredibly effective at ensuring old or damaged cells are regularly culled before they are inoperable or proliferate uncontrollably as is the case with cancer.
The regeneration of cells ensures we function as optimally as possible but this can only happen under the correct physiological conditions.
So how long does it take?
Definitely weeks, not days. Usually months, not weeks. Sometimes years to truly change the body.
We see patients’ very acute or chronic symptoms resolve within days or weeks of care with so many cases in our office. However, their care often continues for weeks as part of a Corrective Care plan to correct any underlying dysfunctions (read: problem) with the body.
You will see in the chart above that the skeleton slowly remodels at about 10% per year. You will also see that words like tendon, joint tissue and ligament are not listed because they are not cells but rather are connective tissue that is slowly remodelled by cells n response to the stress the body is placed under. The same goes for the nerve cells of the nervous system; they are with you for life but are slowly remodelled through a process called neuroplasticity also in response to external forces on the body.
In fact, most of the changes that manual therapy is believed to induce are via the nervous system.
With good Corrective Chiropractic care or manual therapy in general, we can direct and speed the remodelling of these cells and tissues which can speed recovery time and improve how the body works. While pain might resolve slowly or quickly, it takes time for the body to rewire the nervous system and remodel connective tissues, which yields the fixes that patients are looking for.
So while a quick-fix approach might get you out of pain, please always remember that like learning a language, creating lasting change and healing the body takes time and a knowledge of how to do the rewiring. Patience is key but I have seen that consistency always pays off.
