does chiropractic adjustments work?
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does chiropractic adjustments work?
What is chiropractic adjustment?
A licensed chiropractor uses special instruments or their hands to manipulate joints in the body. This process is also called spinal or joint manipulation. It can help reduce pain and correct the body’s alignment and overall physical function.
Chiropractors treat many conditions affecting the nervous system and musculoskeletal system. chiropractic care can help with low back pain, headache, neck pain, muscle pains and other joints of the body.
what Happens During A Chiropractic Adjustment?
When we adjust somebody, we create a mechanical change or mechanical stimulus on a facet joint or disc material. Our bodies respond to two types of stimulus, mechanical stimulus and pain/chemical stimulus. When the mechanical stimulus is turned on, the pain stimulus is turned off.
So what is a pain stimulus or chemical stimulus? A chemical stimulus would include a drug or supplement that you take, a cut, a bug bite, a burn, or really any time when the tissue, and therefore the cells, are open to an outside chemical. Some examples of chemical stimuli that cause pain include irritated tissue that’s strained, a herniated or irritated disc, a pinched nerve, or torn or inflamed tissue from an injury.
What is a mechanical stimulus? Some examples of mechanical stimuli include massage therapy, exercise, vibration, dry needling, ultrasound, motion, or a chiropractic adjustment. A chiropractic adjustment works by flooding the body with mechanical stimulation. As a result of this mechanical stimulation, the pain or chemical stimulus is effectively turned off.
what exactly happens with a chiropractic adjustment allowing patients to feel better?
The main aim of spinal adjustments is to promote movement. Reduced movement within the spine may be caused by injury, posture, stress or any form of overload on your body. Therefore, a Chiropractic assessment will involve assessment of the patient as a whole looking into the posture, muscle imbalances, joint movements, functional movements, spinal motions and work with specific joints that do not like to move and how it is related to patient’s symptoms. After assessment of where in the spine exactly needs to be adjusted, a very controlled, low amplitude, high-velocity push to the joint will cause joint to move, sometimes followed by “popping” or “cracking” sound which is known as cavitation.
That sound is not cracking of your bone. It is a release of gas in the joint caused by sudden joint movement from the spinal adjustment. Synovial fluid inside the joint (which helps with lubrication of the joint) produce gas and release into joint space because of sudden pressure difference caused by quick spinal adjustment. You can think process as opening a coke can. That release of gas within the joint can stimulate the nervous system to reduce pain signal from your joints.
Do chiropractors really move bones?
Many Singapore chiropractors claim that their methods are “special”. Some consider themselves integrative health experts and that spinal adjustments can move your spine back into place. There are a few things to note here:
You can’t change alignment with a little (or big) thrust
If a little nudge into the spine can move a bone back into place, what do you think happens when you trip and fall?
It only takes as little as 6.8 kilogram force (66 newtons) to perform a chiropractic adjustment. For heavy thrusts, about 33 kilogram force or 322 Newtons. Guess how much force you exert into the ground while running? Over 110 kilogram force!
Imagine Usain Bolt’s 100m race.
If a chiropractor’s thrust can move your vertebra back into place, Usain Bolt’s spine will be in pieces at the end of his 100m event!
Look, if getting adjusted can change your spinal alignment, people who crack their knuckles daily will end up with deformed fingers. No?
Good alignment doesn’t even matter
I am not going to talk about this again. For information about the history of posture, how ‘text neck’ is not new, and why neck pain is not related to posture, check out my previous blog post on Text Neck & Neck Pain.
For how posture doesn’t cause lower back pain, check out Anterior Pelvic Tilt: The Reason for Your Back Pain?
The bottom line? Good posture and good alignment are social constructs that change with time. They have nothing to do with spinal health!
(Some may even argue they are marketing strategies to get you to buy more chiropractic packages.)
What is the popping sound then?
You may think the popping sound associated with a spinal adjustment is the sound of your bone moving back into place. Many people do. However, this is not the case. As with your knuckles, your phalanges doesn’t shift back into place when you crack it.
The popping sound is a cavitation. It is a phenomenon in which a gas bubble forms in response to the increase in joint volume as a result of the adjustment manoeuvre.
So in a chiropractic manipulation:
- Thrust is applied to a spinal joint
- The distraction applied to the joint causes an increase in joint space
- In response to the increase in volume, an air bubble is formed from the dissolved gas in the joint fluid (no different from when you open a bottle of coke, really)
- You hear a popping sound
Why does my spine feel out of place?
It’s normal for pain patients to feel that your spine is out of place.
A study in 2008 found that patients with chronic pain were “unable to clearly delineate the outline of their trunk and stated that they could not “find it””. The controls, or individuals who are pain-free, had no issues doing it.
Interestingly enough, patients with pain only on one side, drew their vertebrae to be “out of place” towards that side. Their spine, however, had no deviations.
The takeaway here really is that a chiropractor can’t move your bone back into place or realign your spine. It’s common for chiropractors in Singapore to use this rationale to upsell you chiropractic sessions. Truth is that science and common sense just doesn’t support it!
How a Chiropractic Adjustment Works?
What happens during a chiropractic adjustment that corrects the misalignment?
It’s rather simple: a chiropractor literally pushes the joints back into the correct position.
Although chiropractic adjustments are given to every patient, no two people get the exact same adjustment. your chiropractor might use more or less pressure or make an adjustment in a slightly different position than s/he uses for the next patient.
However, because the discs are flexible, your joints might try to return to the misalignment, especially if they were in that position for a long time. If you lived with the pain of a car accident for a long time, your muscles might be used to holding the joints in that particular position and they may try to pull it back.
This is why your chiropractor wants you to keep coming back, by the way. Over time, your body will become reacquainted with its proper position/alignment and will be able to hold your joints in the correct position much more easily.
A Simple Guide to Chiropractic Adjustments
How exactly do chiropractic adjustments work and what can you expect during your session? At your first appointment, your chiropractor will ask you a number of questions relating to your health. A physical exam will be done, paying close attention to your back and spine.
During the procedure:
During the adjustment procedure, you will be placed in positions that help to target the areas that are giving you trouble. You may lie face down on a chiropractic table that is padded and designed for maximum comfort. Your chiro will do a manual manipulation using hands to apply force to affect joints to push the joint past its range of motion.
After the procedure:
You may feel relief from your pain almost instantly. You may have minor side effects for a couple of days after your appointment. Typical side effects that may occur could include a headache, tiredness or a small amount of pain. If the pain worsens or you are concerned in any way, speak to your chiropractor.
Results of the procedure:
It is worth noting that not every single patient will respond to this treatment. It can be most effective for low back pain and spine-related pain but you may find that you do not feel any improvement after a few treatments. A good chiropractic specialist will help you find a treatment that works best for your
body and needs. You may find that dry needling is a better option or you may find another treatment that is more effective for your specific needs.
Contact Spine and Beyond today for a highly trained and experienced chiropractor in Durban and surrounds that offers chiropractic adjustment and other treatments.
Risks
Chiropractic adjustment is safe when it’s performed by someone trained and licensed to deliver chiropractic care. Serious complications associated with chiropractic adjustment are overall rare, but may include:
- A herniated disk or a worsening of an existing disk herniation
- Compression of nerves in the lower spinal column
- A certain type of stroke after neck manipulation
Don’t seek chiropractic adjustment if you have:
- Severe osteoporosis
- Numbness, tingling, or loss of strength in an arm or leg
- Cancer in your spine
- An increased risk of stroke
- A known bone abnormality in the upper neck
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