What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?
Practicing “chiropractic” means many things to many chiropractors. Some chiropractors do rehabilitation techniques for sports injuries, while others use clinical nutrition methods and lifestyle advice. Others only adjust the spine, leaving the ancillary procedures for other providers to perform. However, the practice of chiropractic invariably has one common thread amongst nearly every doctor in the profession… performing chiropractic adjustments. Chiropractic adjustments are the foundation upon which the profession was founded and remains the basis of how chiropractors help their patients.
When someone mentions a chiropractic “adjustment” of the spine, a person will likely either excitedly profess the benefits they have received from chiropractic adjustments; or they will express their fear of getting “adjusted”. More often than not the “fear” comes from a story of someone’s cousins, best friend’s sister that got adjusted and made her worse. The fact of the matter is that millions of spinal adjustments are performed around the world every day, and those millions of patients return for further adjustments… because they tend to help. There is a reason there is a chiropractor on every corner in the Treasure Valley after all.
According to the laws establishing and governing the practice of chiropractic in Idaho, an “Adjustment” means the “application of a precisely controlled force applied by hand or by mechanical device to a specific focal point on the anatomy for the express purpose of creating a desired angular movement in skeletal joint structures in order to eliminate or decrease interference with neural transmission and correct or attempt to correct subluxation complex”. This is the lawful definition that every chiropractor licensed in Idaho abides by. Adjustments are specific and controlled forces to the spine, producing improvement in alignment and movement and thereby lead to improvement in “neural transmission”. This improvement in neural transmission leads to enhancement in the body’s overall ability to function and as a result there is an improvement in pain, function and overall health.
