What Is An Adjustment
An adjustment is a specific force applied in a specific direction to a vertebrae to correct a subluxation. So understanding what an adjustment is also requires understanding what a subluxation is. When your spine and nerve system cope with more stress than they can handle (physical, chemical, or emotional stress) it causes a vertebral subluxation. This can have many components and most often includes reduced motion of the vertebrae and joints, altered nerve receptor feedback to the brain (dysafferentiation from mechanoreceptors), eventually posture compensation, and then eventually that results in tissue degeneration (scar tissue, osteoarthritis, disc degeneration, histological changes etc).
The sooner a subluxation is corrected with adjustments, the easier it is to restore normal function to that area and the nerve system and avoid tissue changes and degeneration around it. Adjustments can be done by hand, or with instruments and Dr. Wood often utilizes 10-12 techniques in determining the best adjustment method for an individual patient. Dr. Wood has been in shared practices in Canada and the UK with chiropractors from Australia, South Africa, England, United States and Canada before spending the last 20 years at Mission Family Chiropractic in Kelowna.
So how is getting adjusted good for you? Our nerve system controls the function, coordination and healing of every cell and tissue in our body. Subluxations disrupt this normal balance of nerve system function and so by correcting subluxations the adjustment restores normal receptor feedback to your brain and normal nerve function to tissues restoring tissue function, regulation and healing. Here is one example of that from practice that I see many times a day. A specific subluxation involving rotation of the sacrum reduces extension of a patients leg when tested while laying on their stomach and compared to extension of their other leg. This subluxation reduces range of motion in the S-I joint but its main impact is reducing nerve activation of the hamstring muscle. There is rarely any pain or discomfort around this subluxation but the impact on leg strength can have performance implications for athletes, balance and falling implications for seniors, etc.
After this subluxation is corrected with an adjustment I retest this motion and patients are astonished at how they immediately sense more power in their hamstring and range of motion and because receptor feedback to the brain is normalized they can now sense the position of the joint motion is the same as the other side. Research supports the explanation that subluxations impact our nervous system and adjustments improve brain and nerve system function. One study by 9 doctors using PET scan technology studied the effect of ONE CHIROPRACTIC ADJUSTMENT on people who had no pain or symptoms and no understanding of what an adjustment or subluxation was. One adjustment had these changes to their brain and nerve system:
1. Sympathetic tone was inhibited (their stress response was turned down)
This means that it is harder for your body to be in its detrimental stressed state when you get adjusted.
2. Salivary amylase was decreased (drop in the feeling of being stressed)
This is one of the markers for stress response so this shows you feel less stressed.
3. Regional brain metabolic & functional changes (the brain is greatly influenced by the spine)
The metabolism and function of your brain is altered – it becomes more efficient in its firing (often a general feeling of more energy) and it quiets down, just like it would in a stress-free environment so it can focus on the things it needs to without a lot of background noise or stress.
4. Decreased muscle hypertonicity (relaxation of muscles)
The muscles around the neck, shoulders and back all reduced their tension – even in areas of the spine that weren’t actually touched during the adjustment. This is a neurological effect not a mechanical effect from moving or stretching the joints and muscles. This is why for so many people a proper upper spine adjustment is exactly what is required to release the tension in their lower back.
5. Decreased pain intensity (feeling better)
Pain is a chemical and emotional reaction. The depolarization level of mechanoreceptors and pain receptors are altered to a level that they would be in a stress-free person. It takes more input to cause pain in this state than it does if someone is more stressed, on-edge, or more tense.
What does this all mean? It means that spinal integrity dictates nervous system function — regardless of age, regardless of whether someone is in pain, regardless of whether they “believe” in chiropractic. The spine is the lifeline. When it’s clear, the brain and body communicate the way they were designed to. When it’s not, everything downstream is affected. Getting adjusted is GOOD FOR YOU, period.
If I asked 100 people what an adjustment was, I feel like I would get a lot of different answers. Some may describe an adjustment as a “pain treatment” or “headache treatment”. If you understand chiropractic on a deeper level you may consider adjustments as a “movement enhancer” or “stress reliever” or “nerve system enhancer”. If you asked me what an adjustment is and my answer was “It is good for you”, it would seem like I am dodging the question a bit. But the reality is that this is actually a really important place to start when describing what an adjustment is, here’s why. If you have high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, headaches, ADHD, or some other health condition the medical system has taught you to seek out a solution for that one condition. We tend to think our medical doctor treats one condition or symptom with one specific treatment. It is important to know that no medication has one effect on one condition or one body part, they alter our entire physiology and change function in many areas of our body in known and unknown ways. Drug companies label one effect the therapeutic benefit and the other side effects. One example is that Viagra started out as a heart medication but impacted blood flow in the entire body so a side effect created a new target audience…
So what does this have to do with adjustments?
One treatment for one condition is how medicine has chosen to approach health, but then how then do lifestyle improvements like increased exercise or improved nutrition or reduced stress levels have far reaching impact on almost all conditions and health issues? Improving how our body is functioning as a whole impacts ALL of our body, the parts working well and the parts that may need to do some healing. Those lifestyle improvements are GOOD FOR YOU, regardless of diagnosis or health status or health challenges. It is very important before we discuss what an adjustment is, that we approach it from that same understanding. Getting adjusted by a skilled chiropractor is GOOD FOR YOU. If I took someone else’s heart medication, or migraine medication, or any medication, it would not make me healthier because medication is not inherently GOOD FOR YOU. Don’t get me wrong it can save your life at the right time and place, but recognize it does not make everyone who takes it healthier the way exercise or good nutrition does.
If you go into a heart clinic or cancer clinic or kidney clinic, you expect to see people with those conditions. But if you go to a gym, you expect to see a much wider variety of people, of all ages, some using exercise to improve a health condition, some in bad shape looking to make major changes, and others in great shape looking to stay that way. That shouldn’t surprise you because exercise is GOOD FOR EVERYONE. Similarly, you will notice the same thing when you first come into our office, you will see people of all ages, some getting well, some staying well, some fighting major health challenges… that shouldn’t surprise you because getting adjusted is GOOD FOR EVERYONE!
Rest assured we will assess your whole spine and determine what, if any, spinal subluxations are impacting your nerve system and preventing areas from healing well. The adjustments you receive will be 100% unique to you based on what subluxations we need to correct on any given day and we assess that every visit.