What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?

Chiropractic is the use of adjustments to the spinal vertebrae in the restoration and maintenance of health.This specialized treatment, which is also called the spinal manipulation, is a specific movement applied to the spinal joint to restore proper motion and function and to eliminate nerve irritation. Adjustments are a skill that requires special training and is an integral part of a chiropractors education. Special physical tests as well as diagnostic x ray and MRI, are used to determine where and what type of adjustment is needed to correct the specific health condition.

Most adjustive technique is done with the hands through there are also methods of adjustment that involve instruments or sophisticated tables. The most common method of adjustment and probably the most widely used is called Diversifed technique. With this method the practitioner physically moves the joint with a small fast impulse that causes an articular release or what the patients often calls ''cracking''. The sound that one feels and hears is not the bones cracking but arelease of gas presurre within the joint when it resets itself during the adjustment. Besides the increased mobility in the joint, the adjustment helps increase the circulation and relieve pressure upon the nerve endings that line the surface of the joint and course through the space betweenthe joints. This is particularly useful when one has acute back or neck pain that involves muscle spasm as often one can feel immediate increase in movement and a significant decrease in pain directly after an adjustment.