Why Do You Use the Chiropractic Technique You Use?

S ince chiropractic was discovered, hun­dreds of chiropractic adjusting tech­niques have been developed. So why do you use the chiropractic adjusting technique that you choose to use? Is it the first one you learned? Is it because you were impressed and liked the doctor who taught it to you? Perhaps it is the one that made you feel the best when it was performed on you. Did it balance colors on a scan? Is it the one that your patients say makes them feel better, possibly because it was the last one you learned? Maybe, it was the easiest one you ever learned. Did it make the biggest changes on follow up x-rays? Then, of course, there is always the technique that you think has the most research. For me. it is the technique that my analysis reveals I should use on that individual for that particular visit: it improves his or her expression of innate intel- ligcncc and restores normal range of motion and posture, while producing the best results on follow up x-rays. Chiropractors love to ask me. "What chiropractic adjusting technique do you use in your practice?" My answer is Toggle. Gonstcad. Diversified. Picrcc-Stillw agon. Thompsoa Loganba sic. Barge. Webster, and Sacral Occipital Technique. Then they ask me why. and I reply. "Because the founders of these techniques were all correct!" Through my practice. I have discovered that all of these chiropractic techniques work when applied correctly, at the right time, and for the correct situation. That's why our predecessors developed each as a chiropractic technique. Win do I use these if they all work? Win would I not? These major techniques have been proven to work, and are taught in most of our chiropractic institutes. By relying on these timc-proven techniques. I will never be labeled as an experimental or unconventional chiropractor. Docs this mean that these techniques arc the "be-all and end-all" for chiropractic technique? No. these techniques arc the foundation upon which to build your procedures. Can they be improved or combined to produce better results for an individual patient? Certainly! As technology changes, we will also change how we observe and analyze examination findings and our procedures. When I was teaching students Gonstead x-ray analysis in chiropractic college, it dawned on me that this x-ray analysis was onh used for Gonstead. and patients were never going to understand them in the report of findings when I use other, or a combination of. techniques. 1 needed to find or develop an x-ray analysis that could be utilized with all techniques, and one that the patient could understand as w ell. Mam doctors asked that I make it available, so I did. This x-ray analysis can be reviewed in my manual. Principles 2 Adjusting, which addi­tionally demonstrates how to incorporate Impac"s ArthroStim™ and VibraCussor1 M into your manual and drop-table techniques. The x-ray analysis is also taught in my "Principles 2 Adjusting" and "Principles 2 Analysis" seminars. Several years ago. while lecturing at a chiropractic confer­ence. I was invited to a private demonstration of the ArthroStim and VibraCussor. At first. I was skeptical about the use of these instruments in chiropractic technique. Eventually, though. I decided the only way to know was to try- them. Some years later. I became aware of the results these instru­ments arc capable of producing after 1 purcliascd them. I was spending less time with each patient, yet producing better results. I also realized how much my patients enjoyed being adjusted with these instruments. In addition. I noticed that there was less wear and tear on my body by incorporating the instruments into my practice. These were not instruments that I would pick up occasionally. The ArthroStim and VibraCussor are now an integral part of the chiropractic adjusting protocols tailored to the needs of the patients in my practice. I was so impressed with the results that I wrote a completely new protocol as to how to incorporate the instruments into my manual and drop table chiropractic practice, while still being true to the chiropractic principles as expressed in the chiropractic techniques noted above. I documented them in my manual/DVD series. Principles 2 Adjusting, which I also use in my seminars. The longer I work with the VibraCussor and the ArthroStim, the more I realize that there are adjustments that I can do with my hands that I can't do with instruments. On the tlip side, there arc adjustments that I can perform with the instruments that I can"t do with my hands. An example of this is motion adjusting. First. I can adjust a person restoring range of mo­tion. If an individual is restricted in right cervical rotation. I can adjust the patient while he or she rotates the neck to the right. By firing the mechanoreceptors. the muscles in the area will relax or fatigue, and the vertebra will adjust, releasing the tension on the tissue and restoring normal nerve How. Another example is using the instruments to adjust a patient while he or she performs actions that only produce difficulties or symp­toms in that particular action. For example, when a patient is walking, bending, or squatting, he or she can be adjusted while performing that action. Last, there is reversing a biomechanical instability or distortion as seen with anterior head posture, rotational and/or translational distortions. This patient could be adjusted in the mirror action or image of that distortion. Of course. 1 must first mention that every chiropractor should check on that patient's x-rays to make sure that there are no contraindications to the care you are providing to him or her. The ArthroStim can produce a single thrust at either three, six. or 12 thrusts per second. These thrusts range from as low as a few ounces to as great as 40 lbs. of pressure. The three and six thrusts per second are best used for scoliosis. The ArthroStim also has more than 10 different attachments for contacting different parts of a vertebra and various body parts in order to perform very specific adjustments. On the other hand, the VibraCussor was designed to be a nondrug steroid. It can increase blood flow to a region of the body, as well as break up tissue adhesions and scar tissue. The VibraCussor fires mcchanoreceptors at full-range rates. The VibraCussor has 11 speeds or a progressive variable-rate switch with more than 10 attachments available for various body regions and spinal levels. Perhaps the most astonishing result from the use of this technology is the effect it has on individual chiropractors them­selves and their potential career longevity. When chiropractors leam how to incorporate the proper use of the ArthroStini and VibraCussor into their practices, they believe these two instru­ments arc extending their careers. I also know a doctor who came out of retirement because of this advanced technology. Doctors who have tliis technology at their fingertips no longer have to limit themselves physically at the expense of continu­ing to practice. The culmination of a good full-spine x-ray analysis, digital range of motion and posture evaluation, and the most versa­tile specific instruments ever made added to my manual and drop-table techniques have made, in my opinion, chiropractic practice more interesting than ever imaginable. By being able to draw upon these resources and tailor the adjustment to the needs of the patient. I have observed improved posture and range of motion, reduced forward head posture, and restored cervical, thoracic, and lumbar curves, as well as improved joint spacing and reduced artliritic spur fonnations. All of tliis has given me the ability to maximi/.e my patients" success rates and goal fulfillments over and above successfully and effectively promoting the health and well-being of my patients. True success is achieved through a series of proper adjust­ments over a period that improves range of motion, restores a more stable posture, reverses arthritis, and reunites nerve impulses from the brain to every cell, tissue, organ, and body system in the body, while improving "quality of life." Find further information on my Facebook page. Chiropractic Fountain, a Facebook group. YouTube. orww\v.tccliniqucinstitutc.ncL Dr. Brian /,. Solo/sky, a 1987 Life Chimpmctic Col­lege graduate, is a well known chimpractic technique instructor and researcher. Dr. Brian has been in private practice for over twenty-five years in Pennsylvania, where he has been conducting research on spinal x- rays, posture and range of motion. His research focuses on piv- and post-studies as they relate to Chiropractic care. He has taught x-ray and spinal adjustment courses at Pennsylvania College of Straight Chiropractic and lectures around the country to Chiropractic organi­zations. He is now a representative oflmpac Inc. where the ArthroStim and ] ibraC "ussor wen' developed and aiv manufactured. Dr. Brian has authored the chiropractic adjusting manual, "Principles 2 Adjusting" and teaches the corresponding seminar. For more information go to his Facebook page, Chimpractic Fountain, a Facebook group. You Tube or www.techniqueinstitute.net.