Chiropractic adjustments are used to correct improper alignment of joints or vertebra.
When a joint isn’t moving correctly, it leads to inflammation and breakdown of the joint. The breakdown of the joint then leads to breakdown of the disc. The disc deforms and distorts the opening where the nerve exits the spine at that joint which can cause pressure or irritation of the nerves in that immediate area.
Chiropractic back adjustments restore the normal spinal movement reducing this nerve irritation and pressure. Restoring movement also has a profound effect on how the brain perceives positional sense from the spine which in turn affects the brain’s signals to the entire body.
What to Expect During an Adjustment
Your chiropractor may utilize a variety of hands-on techniques to address these issues. Common approaches include:
- Mobilisation: Gentle movements to increase range of motion in stiff joints.
- Manipulation: Quick, controlled thrusts targeting specific joints to restore alignment.
- Muscle Energy Techniques (MET): Involves contracting and relaxing muscles in specific ways to improve joint function and flexibility.
In addition to these hands-on treatments, you’ll often receive a personalized exercise program. These exercises help to maximize the benefits from your session and prolong the positive effects of the adjustment over time.
By combining targeted manual therapies with tailored exercises, chiropractic care supports long-term joint health, eases nerve irritation, and helps your body move and feel its best.
Assessing Posture and Movement
Accurate assessment is crucial when addressing posture and movement issues. To get a clear picture, chiropractors combine hands-on evaluation with specialized technology.
First, a detailed physical exam checks for misalignments, abnormal movement patterns, and any areas of muscular imbalance. This means observing your body’s natural stance, gait, and range of motion, often comparing both sides for differences.
For an even more precise analysis, video motion capture is frequently used—think iPads or similar devices. These tools record your posture and movements in real time, allowing both you and your practitioner to visually pinpoint problems and track changes over time.
Through this blend of observation and modern technology, your chiropractor can develop a tailored plan to restore proper alignment and function—getting you moving and feeling your best.
The Top Ten benefits of Chiropractic Adjustment
1. Blood Pressure
According to a study in The Human Journal of Hypertension, chiropractic adjustments could have the same effects as certain blood pressure medications.
The results of this study showed that adjustment effects would continue for six months after the treatment.
Side effects of high blood pressure medications can include:
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Anxiety
- Weight loss
It might be worth looking into if an adjustment has a similar effect to these medications.
Patients with low blood pressure can also benefit from adjustments.
Reference: UChicago Medicine
2. A Chiropractic Adjustment Can Help With Lower Back and Neck Pain
Chiropractic is probably best known for treating these conditions. Most of us have experienced lower back pain at some point in our lives.
Back and neck pain is often treated with medications and surgery, but these options are often ineffective, dangerous and expensive.
A chiropractor can help you reduce neck and back pain using non-invasive adjustments. The cost of chiropractic treatment for back pain is typically lower than any other treatment options.
3. Scoliosis
Scoliosis refers to an unusual spine curvature condition which can lead to pain and an abnormal posture. It may also reduce your range of motion and affect breathing.
There are few treatment options available for most scoliosis sufferers. This is where a chiropractic adjustment can help scoliosis sufferers.
Combining chiropractic treatment with physical therapy can help to prevent the development of scoliosis. Although the effectiveness of this option will vary from one patient to another, it can be very effective.
4. Sciatica
Sciatica is a condition where damage to or pressure on the sciatic nerve causes chronic pain radiating from the lower back and down the legs.
Chronic pain like this can often lead to excessive use of medications. Your sciatica can be relieved by reducing pressure on the sciatic nerve with chiropractic treatment.
Patients who have chiropractic adjustments show a reduction in the amount of days that they experience pain and the severity of the pain is also reduced according to studies.
Dr Nothling is very experienced and successful in treating Sciatica.
5. Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation is a major cause of joint problems, pain and tension. Many diseases have been linked to chronic inflammation, including heart disease, cancer and chronic pain.
According to studies, Chiropractic adjustments reduce inflammation which may relieve chronic lower back problems, reduce muscle tension and provide joint relief. A reduction of inflammation in turn reduces the risk of getting diseases linked to inflammation.
6. Headache Relief
Misalignment of the spine or back can lead to muscle tension and pain which results in tension headaches as well as migraines.
Chiropractic care is renowned for treating headaches which is the most common problem chiropractors treat after back pain. Over 200 studies have been conducted to determine the effectiveness and benefits of chiropractic adjustments in headache relief.
7. Improved Symptoms for Neurological Conditions
Exciting research is using upright MRI scans to show how various brain-based disorders can be affected by upper cervical adjustments. The results we’ve seen are quite amazing. Researchers are observing that MRI scans show that cerebral fluid and blood flow have increased markedly after a chiropractic adjustment. This can benefit those with neurological disorders like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.
Also, cerebellar vagination (when cerebellum falls below the skull line) is being reversed. Brain plaquing is also disappearing in multiple sclerosis patients. There is also evidence to support the use of chiropractic care to treat vertebral subluxation, which contributes to seizures and epilepsy.
A study showed that 15 children who received chiropractic treatment for their upper cervical problems had positive results. According to the study, “Chiropractic care may represent a nonpharmaceutical health care approach for pediatric epileptic patients.“
8. Children’s Health Benefits
Children’s chiropractic care can improve some conditions affecting infants and young children such as colic. Colic is a condition that causes infants great abdominal discomfort due to a gas build up. This leads to excessive crying by the child and very exhausted parents. Infantile colic can be improved with chiropractic adjustments.
9. Improvement in Athletic Performance
The body can be in great shape if it is free from inflammation and pain. For athletes, who depend on their bodies to perform, this is particularly important.
Professional athletes and sports teams often hire chiropractors to help reduce tension and pain as well as help speed up recovery from sporting activities. Achieving alignment can help reduce inflammation and increase performance.
10. Vertigo
Excessive dizziness caused by vertigo can make it very difficult to perform ordinary daily tasks. Simply getting out of bed may be impossible due to the room spinning from vertigo. Vertigo often presents after sustaining a neck or head injury.
Vertigo is most commonly associated with middle ear problems but Chiropractic adjustments can be used to correct problems when the vertigo is related to the incorrect movement of any vertebrae and joints. Chiropractic adjustments can help restore your natural balance due to spine or neck misalignment.
In Conclusion
A chiropractic adjustment or treatment is a wonderful way to enhance multiple aspects of your health.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Are chiropractic adjustments safe?
Yes, as numerous studies have repeatedly shown, Chiropractic enjoys an excellent track record of safety. A New Zealand study recently concluded: “Chiropractic adjustments are remarkably safe.”
It’s natural to have questions about any healthcare intervention, and chiropractic is no exception. Safety is a top priority for practitioners, who are extensively trained to assess, diagnose, and treat musculoskeletal issues. Research has demonstrated that serious complications are extremely rare, especially when compared to common medical interventions like surgery or long-term medication.
Will adjustments make my spine too loose?
No, Chiropractors are very specific in what bones they move and why. Only those joints that are not moving correctly are adjusted.
The segments that are moving correctly are not mobilized. Areas where there is too much movement are usually
addressed through exercise or changing the way a patient moves to restore normal stabilization for that joint.
In addition to precise adjustments, chiropractors often recommend personal exercise programs tailored to each patient’s needs.
These exercises are designed to help maximize and prolong the benefits gained from the ‘hands on’ treatment, as well as to encourage proper movement patterns and strengthen areas of instability.
By combining targeted adjustments with supportive exercises, the goal is to restore and maintain healthy joint function without causing any looseness in your spine.
How many adjustments will I need?
The number of adjustments will vary with each patient depending on the type of condition treated and how long it’s been there. The age of the patient and the individual health goals of the patient also plays a big role.
Patients often feel a relief after the first few adjustments. In the beginning, the treatments are usually more frequent (first 2 visits are usually within a week of each other) but this usually becomes far less frequent as the condition stabilizes.
Some people come for short-term relief, while others seek ongoing wellness care. Your chiropractor will work with you to build a plan that makes sense for your specific goals and lifestyle.
How are individualized treatment programs designed to improve posture and reduce pain?
Chiropractic care is not a one-size-fits-all approach; each person’s needs and physical condition are carefully considered before building a treatment plan. Your chiropractor will perform a thorough evaluation to identify any underlying issues affecting your posture or causing discomfort. From there, a combination of gentle hands-on techniques—such as mobilization, manipulations, and muscle balancing methods—may be used to address the specific areas needing attention.
In addition to in-office adjustments, you’ll often receive a program of targeted exercises to do at home. These exercises are designed to reinforce the improvements made during your appointments, supporting better posture and long-term pain relief. The ultimate goal is to restore balance, flexibility, and strength to the body, helping you stand taller and move more comfortably—not just for the short term, but as a lasting benefit.
Why would a newborn get adjusted?
Childbirth methods including the introduction of drugs to induce mothers, the use of instruments to pull the baby from the birth canal, c sections and even natural childbirth may all affect the baby’s spine.
Unusual crying, colic, poor appetite or erratic sleep patterns may all be signs of spinal misalignment.
Adjustments given to a baby are very gentle and involves no more pressure than one would use to test the ripeness of a tomato.
It is knowing exactly where and how to apply that pressure that achieves the correction safely and effectively.
Can I adjust myself?
No, making a joint “pop” is not an adjustment!
Adjustments are specific and take years to master. Even a chiropractor has to consult another chiropractor to get his/her back adjusted.
What you might do on your own is simply cause the surrounding joints to release gas, but this doesn’t address the underlying restriction or misalignment. True chiropractic care requires precise assessment and skill.
Isn’t some back pain normal?
With the prevalence of pain, especially back pain in our society, one may be forgiven for thinking that it is normal. But no, it’s not normal. Pain is the body’s way of letting you know that something is wrong.
Now, you can relieve the pain by numbing it with medication, but if a problem isn’t resolved, the underlying problem may get worse and become more problematic to correct later on.
Not every ache and pain needs to be seen as the body is pretty resilient and self-healing, but pain that tends to stay for extended periods or comes back periodically, probably needs to be looked at.
It’s important to listen to your body. Persistent or recurring pain, especially if it interferes with your activities or quality of life, warrants professional attention.
Can I have chiropractic care after back surgery?
Yes, the areas that have been modified surgically are usually avoided when adjusting.
The areas above and below the surgery often compensate for the alteration and having these areas adjusted often brings tremendous relief.
The type of treatment will also be catered to the condition being treated. Many of these techniques are very gentle.
Your chiropractor will always take a thorough history and may communicate with your surgeon or other healthcare professionals to ensure your care is coordinated, safe, and effective.
Have more questions?
If you’re curious about any aspect of chiropractic care—from what to expect during your first visit, to how treatment plans are developed, or how chiropractic can fit into your broader health goals—don’t hesitate to ask! Your chiropractor is there to support your health journey every step of the way.