What does an Adjustment do? Part 1

Adjustments, or manipulations, to the spine and extremities have many effects at the local level, in regional segments of the spine, and the brain. Probably the most obvious effects are the ones to the area that is being adjusted, referred to here as the “local effects.” Areas that are commonly adjusted or manipulated include the neck (cervical spine), mid back (thoracic spine), and low back (lumbar spine). However, it is important to recognize that the spine is not the only place that can be adjusted …as the extremities including the ankle foot as well as the elbow and other options can also be adjusted or manipulated. And combinations or junctional areas of the spinal regions 4 manipulation also crucial areas from manipulation as these are often the ones that needed to be adjusted the most such as the cervicothoracic junction as well as the thoracolumbar junction. The patient can have multiple Effexor the local areas that are being adjusted these effects are especially good when the area being adjusted is a particularly stiff/rigid area that lacks free amounts of motion. An adjustment creates motion in these segments By moving the joints to their end range and then applying a quick force in a small amount of space. Oftentimes this can be accompanied by a cracking or popping sound, however the cracking and popping sounds are not completely necessary for a successful manipulation to occur. In the joint that can free up new ranges of motion include releasing of entrapped meniscoids as well as fibrous joint adhesions which can occur after prolonged periods of reduced range of motion and not moving through that full physiological range. By freeing up the range of motion in the joint and applying a quick force, we are able to send a lot of important information from that joint to the brain that was not being sent before. In order for information from our joint mechanoreceptors to go up into our brain the joint has to be moving properly and throughout its full ranges of motion. If the joint is unable to fully move through the full range of motion it is unable to find the full extent of information to the brain. Another local effect that can occur as a result all the result of an adjustment that is able to altered the muscle activity of the muscles that surround the joint being manipulated. For example, in a low back spasm once the joints in the area of spasm are adjusted the muscles will typically relax and have less spastic activity and less tightness. Segmental effects of the spinal cord are the release of information to the brain as previously noted as well as a segmental inhibition of pain due to some of the neurological effects that the adjustment will have at that level. Interestingly, Sending joint position sense information and information about movement will actually decrease the amount of pain information that was sent to her brain this decreasing our pain while increasing range of motion. These are just the local effects that happened as a result of an adjustment in the next blood post will be talking about some of the larger effects that can occur supraspinally or throughout the spinal cord as a result of an adjustment.