The Chiropractic Adjustment
The chiropractic adjustment is the resetting of how your brain perceives and responds to the environment. The brain areas of the Cerebellum and Parietal Insular Vestibular Nucleus perceive, store and update the position of your body’s orientation via the movement and stretching of skin, ligaments, tendons, muscles and joints. These brain areas are also associated with the term muscle memory and explain why we always remember how to dance or ride a bike once it has been learnt.
The chiropractor uses their hands or specially crafted instruments to restore mobility of specific, restricted, vertebral joints and extremities to maximally stimulate these brain areas. It is for this reason, that chiropractors are considered nerve, muscle and spinal specialists. Postural muscles and spinal joints are not under voluntary control and require chiropractic mobilization when mobility becomes diminished. This is why it is difficult to sustain improved posture and fluid motion by sheer will, especially when we experience joint pain. The neurological input from painful joints alters spinal biomechanics and this becomes apparent in how we walk, or tilt our head or shift our weight.
“ — The Role of Manipulation in Mechanical Back Pain —
Spinal manipulation involves specialized examination techniques to evaluate the motion and alignment of joints in the spine. We determine which joints are “locked up” - lacking the normal degree of movement. These joints are usually tender and are often accompanied by local muscle tightness. Chiropractors use their hands to quickly apply a specific force that moves the joint beyond its limited range and through its complete, normal range of movement using the minimum force necessary. Chiropractors offer a mechanical solution to a mechanical problem.”