To those without a chiropractic degree and professional experience, the timing, angle, force and intent might appear to be similar on each visit. Even more inaccurate is the assumption that all clients are adjusted in the same way. Not true.
Every chiropractor works a little differently and there are many tools available to assist in an evaluation of your spine. These tools include skin temperature readings along your spine, leg length measurements, posture, range of motion or even a high-tech tool called surface electromyograph. These and other objective measurements, combined with years of training and experience, determine the care you receive on each visit.
That’s just the start. Your care is also based on a highly-refined sense of touch. ‘Feeling with the hands’ by gently pressing on muscles and spinal joints is called palpation.
This form of ultra-sensitive touch provides volumes of information about joint stability, function and the approach that should be used. Nothing, not even an observant spouse or friend who accompanies you on your visit, can substitute for this special form of experience.
Your care is unique and your adjustments are specific to your individual needs. Your adjustments are unlike those which anyone else may receive.
Throughout care your body changes day to day and visit to visit. Areas that were immobile and ‘leathery’ in feel become more pliable, having a different type and sense of movement. The nerve from the area functions differently and the surrounding tissues begin to adapt and heal in line with better movement.
It is common for chiropractors to ask about areas of tenderness. ‘How did you know that that was painful,? It seemed alright until it was touched’, clients often say.
Muscle tightness, oedema (a type of swelling), inflammation and skin temperature all give clues to what happens below the skin.
To a chiropractor, touching a client is like reading a book. It may look magical but there is training, sense and reason involved.