Bad Adjustment at Chiropractor Should They Readjust for Free?

There is at least one chiropractor who posts on here, and I will be interested to see what she has to say if she responds.

I think you should definitely go back and see your chiropractor and explain what happened, but I'm not so sure you will be able to get a "free" adjustment. First, you need to find out what happened and hopefully he will be honest. Maybe your neck was worse off than normal before he adjusted. Maybe he did something slightly different, and now your body doesn't know how to react. (I have had "difficult" adjustments but my chiropractor has stated that that was the case and then told me to expect to be sore as my muscles got used to being "in place" again.) In any event, it's worth going back and talking to him face-to-face. I'm sure he values you as a client, and you obviously need further treatment.

Regarding the free adjustment, you can certainly ask, but we have to keep in mind that the human body is complex, not necessarily black and white. We are not talking about a mechanic doing bad repairs on a vehicle. Think of all the ways things can go wrong w/an MD (allergic reaction to a prescription, wrong diagnosis) and rarely do we think to ask for free medical treatment in these cases.

You raise an interesting question, though. In any event, I hope you get this resolved and get back to feeling better.

As a chiropractor myself, I would only hope that your clinic would see you at no charge. Perhaps the receptionist was following office policy, but this sounds like an acceptable exception! I hope you get care. In the meantime, use an ice pack for your neck - a frozen bag of peas works wonders if you don't have one - for 20 minutes. More than likely the muscles in your neck may have tightened following a difficult adjustment - he should be able to correct it and relax your neck.

I've gone to a chiropractor for years and, while I know that sometimes you'll just have those days where you maybe don't adjust as well, I think in this case I agree with the other response- and would speak directly to the chiropractor. As you've been a patient for 4 years and haven't had an issue before, you obviously wouldn't be saying anything if there wasn't a valid issue. He totally has the authority to readjust you at no charge... I'd just tell him that something isn't quite right and could you come back in and have him take another look or try to readjust you. I'd think he'd want to keep you as a patient.

My former chiropractor (I had to switch as I live in Stillwater and my former one was in Prior Lake and I no longer work down there) often sent out flyers for patient appreciation days which were days where they adjusted for free. I'd definitely pursue it.

Good luck and hope you feel better!

I'd call back and ask to speak directly to the chiropractor. Find out what happened yesterday. Were your muscles just not allowing the adjustment, or was it something he did/didn't do? Tell him that it made things worse, and that if you can't get a readjustment for free, you'll take your business elsewhere.

I wouldn't want to continue going to the same one if they didn't admit a mistake and try to fix it...what happens the next time there's a problem??? At that point the trust between you and the chiropractor has been damaged and that will affect you negatively and the adjustments will be harder and less effective because you will be more tense. All in all...SO not worth giving this same person your business.

Good luck...