How Does Chiropractic Work?

This is the meat and potatoes of how chiropractic works. Our body can feel 4 specific senses: Light pressure, Deep pressure, Temperature, and Pain.  Through these 4 stimuli we interact with the entire world through touch. We feel these signals sent through the sensory portion of the nervous system. The nervous system consists of motor nerves which control our actions and movements, autonomic system which controls everything in our body we don’t have to think about (organ function, heart beat, immune response, ect) and sensory system which monitors our body. The structures of the nervous system include the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. These structures control everything in our entire body. For sake of simplicity we will only focus on the sensory portion. Though keep in mind, chiropractic adjustments can have an effect on all functions of our nervous system!

As stated in the column to the left, our sense of pressure is divided up into 2 categories: light and deep pressure. Light pressure sense comes from superficial sensors in the skin attached to the hairs on our body. Deep pressure sense comes from microscopic, fluid filled pillows embedded in the deep layers of our skin. We feel pressure by the movement of fluid within these sensors. When pressure is applied to our body, the fluid in these sensors are displaced and our sensory nerves send signals that something is applying pressure. Once the fluid in the sensors stops moving because the pressure has been stable for a period of time, we are unable to feel the area with pressure applied.

Try This:

place a light weight on your hand. Something 5 pounds or so. What you feel is a very obvious initial sense of weight on the hand. The longer you leave the weight on your hand, the less aware you become of the pressure placed. This is because the initial pressure displaces the fluid in our pressure sensors. The movement of fluid is what our body reads as pressure. Once the fluid settles and stops moving, our body is then unable to sense the weight.

Once you go partially numb to the pressure, quickly take the weight off your hand and what do you feel? A rush of senses to the area. This is because the fluids in our pressure sensors are moving to return to their normal state.

Movement is what allows us to feel and perceive things. Without movement, we are numb to anything that may be causing a problem

To most people, pain is something that is bad and to be avoided. Pain is actually an essential function to life. Without it, we could not survive. Pain is our bodies way of telling us something is wrong. You should not ignore it or things will only get worse. Especially if it is pain that presents without any known cause.

Pain nerves are much smaller than pressure nerves. Small nerve = slower transmission time and easier to be overwritten by larger nerves. This is why when we are experiencing pain, our natural instinct is to apply pressure. Our body will sense pressure over pain thus it will override pain signals and the affected area feels better.

Try This:

Lightly tap a corner of a desk with the back of your hand just hard enough for it to be slightly uncomfortable. Do this 2 times. The first time, don’t apply any pressure to your hand and time how long it take for the pain to go away. The second time, apply pressure and rub the part of the hand you hit. Time how long it takes for the pain to go away again. Which one felt better faster? The “injury” was the same but your perception of the severity of the injury was altered simply with pressure.

So how does chiropractic work? Simply put, chiropractic adjustments work by relieving pressure within joint capsules that have been placed in a prolonged state of tension. Tension on joints occur via 2 processes. 1: a fast traumatic event causing rapid swelling and more severe pain. Example being a sprained ankle. 2: slowly and progressively over time as your body remodles into a high tension posture example being hunched over a desk for 8+ hours per day. In this case you cant feel the problem developing until it progresses past a threshold that your body can manage. Increased tension on a joint causes swelling in the joint capsule which increases the pressure within the joint. The body does this to stabilize the affected area and prevent motion. When motion is applied to an injured joint or a joint with a lot of tension on it, it hurts. The pressure ensures motion is restricted and pain signals are blocked. Unfortunately, if you cannot perceive a problem, the problem will get worse until it reaches a threshold that the body cannot manage.

This is why a vast majority of people who present to chiropractic offices are there not for acute injuries but for simple things such as bending over. When joint problems reach that threshold, a simple thing such as bending over to pick something up can cause a serious issue. We are now seeing that threshold reached by people as young as 25 because of today’s lifestyles.

To resolve the problem, we administer quick, realignment adjustments to release the internal joint pressure, relieve the high tension posture and restore proper joint range of motion. 

The true value of chiropractic care is regular maintenance adjustments to ensure your joints remain mobile and tension free. Think of your adjustment like brushing your teeth. A small investment now can save you a significant investment later both physically and financially.