What Is A Spinal Adjustment?

Artistic & Scientific

When you first visit your chiropractor you will receive a spinal analysis to determine where and how many subluxations are in your spine. 

Once your chiropractor has determined the location of your vertebral subluxation(s) using various tools of spinal analysis, he/she must determine the following: 

• In which direction are the vertebrae out of alignment? 
• What is the body trying to do to this area of stress and tension? 
• What is the minimal amount of force necessary for realignment? 
• Which is the best technique (style of adjusting) to use? 
• Are there any factors which would contraindicate or prevent the adjustment? 
• Is the patient relaxed enough for the adjustment? 
• Which subluxations are primary and which are defensive or secondary? 

A Checklist

An experienced chiropractor goes through a mental “checklist” quickly.  Chiropractors may also include in the checklist a certain “feeling” when an adjustment is just right.  This “feeling” can’t easily be put into words, but when the chiropractor has you under his or her hands, intuition and experience come into play.  This includes a sensitivity to the patient knowing that every person is unique.  No two adjustments are ever the same.

Physical Differences

An adjustment from one chiropractor may feel different when given by another chiropractor. One reason for this is that each chiropractor is physically unique: some are tall, some are short, they have different sized hands and they use different spinal adjusting techniques. These differences are natural when dealing with adjusting, for it is an artistic as well as a scientific procedure.
 

The Same Goal 

But all chiropractors have the same goal-the elimination or reduction of your subluxations; reducing the stress on your nervous system to permit you to unleash your inner healing ability.
 

Putting the Bone in Place? 

Your chiropractor is not really “putting the bone back in place.” The adjustment is unlocking the jammed vertebra and nearby tissues from their stuck or fixated positions which frees them to move where the body wants them to go. Only the body knows exactly where the vertebra needs to be. The chiropractor can, however, make a reasonable determination of the general direction using analysis tools: motion palpation, study of the electrical quality of the muscles (S-EMG), imaging tools such as MRI and X-ray and other spinal analysis instruments.
 

The body is always trying
 

Your body is always trying to realign or adjust your spine and return to a state of ease or relaxation.  Areas of stress or tension are unnatural states and need to be released.  The back muscles are continuously working to pull the vertebra back to where it belongs.  The chiropractor doesn’t actually put the vertebra back in place-he/she supplies just the little bit of force needed to free the vertebra so your body will realign it.

Like a Stuck Car
 

It's like when your car was stuck in the mud and the wheels are spinning and spinning.  Then along came a friend who pushed the car so that the wheels finally caught and pushed the car free.  Now did your friend really push your 2 ton car out of the mud? Of course not! He just supplied the right amount of force in the right direction that the car needed to dislodge itself.
 

Do Chiropractors need to be Strong?

Do you have to be strong to give an adjustment?  No, strength is not necessary- skill is.  An adjustment has little to do with actual strength since the body is always trying to pull the vertebra back into proper alignment and release unnatural stress from your muscles, tissues, and joints.  Most of the force is already there, locked up but not moving.  The chiropractor has the right “key” to open the “locked” areas.  Just the right touch in the correct direction (at the proper moment) should be all that is needed.  Some adjusting techniques use so little force, patients barely feel anything!  In fact, a small female chiropractor of slight build, can, with the proper adjusting technique, move man-mountains.
 

Chiropractic Adjusting Techniques
 

Not all chiropractors work alike.  The chiropractic profession has developed nearly a hundred different techniques to analyze the spine for subluxations and adjust or release the vertebral subluxation complex.  Each chiropractor usually has a favorite one that he or she employs for the majority of patients.  Why not ask your chiropractor what type of adjusting technique he or she uses and why?