Adjustments

(Spinal and Extremity Manipulations)

Perhaps the most sought after and yet most likely misunderstood technique utilized by chiropractors is the adjustment. In the sentences that follow, we will try to paint a brief but accurate picture of what was formerly the historical thoughts on manipulation versus what is now the most recent understanding of manipulation.

Chiropractic, and thus manipulations, as a medical approach was organized into a healing art form around 1895. During the first 40-50 years of the 20th century, there emerged many different schools of thought on how to incorporate these types of techniques into the medical model.

Two particularly rose to the top.

The straight “chiropractor” who believed the vast majority of illness and disease was related to the spinal subluxation (bone out), and the “medipractor” or “mixer chiropractor” who still held true to the medical model of most diseases, but also understood that there were many musculoskeletal and related disorders that could be treated as much as, or more successfully, with specific techniques designed for them and not allopathic medications or surgery only.

Here at Irwin Chiropractic we ascribe to the latter. In fact, modern research now shows that a lot of joint pain problems are related more to loss of motion from joint fixation, wear and tear, muscular tension and weakness, and disc related issues rather than the old theory of the “bone out”.

Spinal and extremity joint manipulation is, and always will be, one of the most advantageous tools for chiropractors.

The new theories do not disprove chiropractic effectiveness, but rather prove much more substantially why what we do works. Adjustments should be relatively painless and should often provide both immediate and/or long-term relief.