Why Pain Isn't Always a Good Health Indicator

When most people think about their health, they use pain as their primary measuring stick. If something hurts, they assume there’s a problem. If nothing hurts, they figure everything must be fine. But what if pain isn’t actually a reliable indicator of health at all?

Many patients are surprised to learn that pain is often the last thing to show up and the first thing to go away. As Midtown NYC chiropractor, Dr. Robert Shire explains, “Pain is not a good indicator of how healthy you are.” This might seem counterintuitive, but understanding why can change how you think about your body and your health.

The Dental Cavity Analogy

Consider your last dental checkup. Your dentist discovered a cavity in your tooth, but you weren’t feeling any pain. Why? The cavity hadn’t yet reached the nerve. Had you relied solely on pain as your health indicator, you would have waited for an emergency situation rather than catching the problem early.

“If the cavity is a relatively recent cavity and hasn’t made its way down into the nerve, then you wouldn’t feel pain,” Dr. Shire notes. “But until the cavity makes its way to the nerve, well, then you’re not going for a routine visit, you’re going for an emergency visit because you’re in pain.”

The same principle applies to your spine and nervous system. Only about 10 percent of your nervous system is dedicated to sensing pain, which means dysfunction can develop long before you feel any discomfort. Dr. Shire often observes patients who can’t turn their head fully in one direction or who bend differently from side to side—clear signs of dysfunction that haven’t yet reached the pain threshold.

When Symptoms Actually Signal Health

What makes this even more interesting is that sometimes symptoms we think indicate sickness actually show our body working properly. Take fever, vomiting, or diarrhea. These feel awful, yet they’re your body’s healthy response to infection or invasion. “That’s where we might be experiencing symptoms that we think indicate sickness, but actually your body’s operating in a very healthy way,” Dr. Shire explains. A fever activates your immune system and increases white blood cell production to fight off bacteria or viruses. Vomiting and diarrhea purge harmful substances from your body.

Function Matters More Than Feelings

So if pain and symptoms aren’t reliable health indicators, what is? Function. How well is your body actually working? Can you move freely in all directions? Is your nervous system communicating properly with all your organs and tissues? These are the questions that reveal your true health status.

This is why chiropractors focus on detecting and correcting dysfunction before it progresses to pain. By the time you feel something, the problem has often existed for quite some time. Regular chiropractic care identifies these issues early, restoring proper function and allowing your body to heal naturally—often before pain ever develops.