"I don't want to have my back cracked."
How often have I heard a patient or prospective patient make this statement? Lots!
Just as chiropractic is misunderstood as a profession, the adjustment is also misunderstood. Some still think it's massage. According to the Etymology Dictionary, If we look at the word itself, it means "to fit things together properly, put things in order." Concerning the spine, it means to bring things into their proper relationship––to bring order. I'm sure we would rather have order than disorder in our lives.
So what does it look like to have a disordered spine? In the last chiropractic article, I mentioned the term Vertebral Subluxation.
This condition is where a vertebra has lost its normal position and motion, causing interference to the nervous system. It takes an outside force or multiple forces to cause a subluxation. The forces can occur in various forms. It's where the external forces overcome the internal resistive forces of the body.
The science and art of spinal adjusting is what the chiropractor does to assist the body in correcting subluxations. The body can repair itself. For instance, someone could whack your bottom with a shovel and accidentally correct a subluxation. However, that is not the method of choice because it could just as easily cause vertebral subluxation.
There are multiple methods that chiropractors use to correct the spine. Whichever technique chiropractors use, the goal is the same, the removal of nerve interference.
Here are the most commonly used methods, including one of the oldest, first developed in the 1930s by B.J. Palmer, the chiropractic developer. Just a hint; think toggle bolt—those hook-type devices which open up inside a wall cavity and allow you to hang pictures.
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