Español
Català
Chiropractors release stuck, restricted joints in the spine and part of the skill of a good chiropractor is properly assessing where they should ‘adjust’. There are a few ways that chiropractors do this.
Static Palpation
The first way is called “static palpation” where the chiropractor simply feels the spine with their hands. Here she/he looks for dips or prominence in the spine indicating a vertebra sitting poorly, or localised spasm of the small muscles around the spine which is often present with jammed vertebrae. In some areas of the spine this can be enough to detect a problem but usually it will need to be confirmed with what is called “motion palpation”.
Motion palpation
Motion palpation is done by pressing on the spine to feel how the vertebrae move and flexes under your hand, or moving the back or neck in different direction to assess how the sliding joints of the spine glide. If the area moves poor and feels completely or partly restricted this indicates dysfunction.
So, a vertebra that sticks in/out/off to one side, has contracted muscles around it, and doesn’t move well is considered dysfunctional and something that needs to be released. Some chiropractors use a muscle testing technique to help this process.
Ongoing assessment of the spine
Each session the prominence, the tightness in the local muscles, the rusty feeling of poor movement abates until finally the patient is left with a feeling of being looser, lighter and more relaxed. How many sessions the process takes depends on how long the problem has been there and how much the body had adjusted to the dysfunction. (eg. Muscles tend to shorten when the vertebra isn’t moving so much)
How many sessions do you need with a chiropractor?
Stefan Becker
Barcelona Chiropractor
