Types of Chiropractic Adjustment Techniques

Robert Hayden, a spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association, says there are about 150 techniques referenced in chiropractor literature. He notes that practitioners typically use more than one to tailor treatment to their patients’ needs.

“These are five of the most commonly encountered techniques in chiropractic offices,” Hayden says:

1. Gonstead Technique

This hands-on technique often involves adjusting the low back or pelvis as the patient lies on his side. Chiropractors use it to realign joints, reduce pain and stiffness, and increase mobility. “This adjusting technique is virtually universal in chiropractic education and is taught to students early in their learning process,” Hayden says.

2. Activator Technique

A handheld adjusting instrument delivers a gentle impulse into the vertebral segments of the spine, or the extremities. The force feels like a light thumping sensation when used to treat everything from low back pain to certain types of headaches, like migraines. “It is very comfortable to the patient and an excellent choice for seniors,” Hayden says.

3. Flexion Distraction

Also called Cox Technic or decompression manipulation, it’s used in more than half of all chiropractic clinics, and a method of choice when treating disc herniation’s, facet joint pain, scoliosis and other conditions, Hayden says. “Patients should expect to feel a gentle stretching motion,” he says of the technique that requires a specially designed adjusting table.

4. Thompson, or Drop Table, Technique

This involves a specially adapted table with padded platforms designed to drop a fraction of an inch when the chiropractor applies a quick thrust to make an adjustment. The subtle dropping motion, which patients feel as vibration, makes it very comfortable for most patients, Hayden says. It can be used for the spine or extremities.

5. Diversified Technique

Also employed to adjust the spine and extremities, this feels similar to the Gonstead technique. It’s considered the most widely used technique involving very precise hands-on thrusts aimed at restoring proper movement and alignment to the spine.

When subluxations occur, chiropractors use specific techniques to return the vertebrae into their proper positions or mobilize them so they can move freely. These techniques are called spinal manipulations or adjustments. During an adjustment, the vertebra is freed from the misaligned position and returned to the proper position in the spinal column. Once performed, the adjustment allows the body to heal and maintain homeostasis.

Some common adjustment techniques used by chiropractors include the following:

• Toggle Drop - this is when the chiropractor, using crossed hands, presses down firmly on a particular area of the spine. Then, with a quick and precise thrust, the chiropractor adjusts the spine. This is done to improve mobility in the vertebral joints.
• Motion Palpation - this hand-on procedure is done to determine if your vertebrae are moving freely in their normal planes of motion.
• Lumbar Roll -the chiropractor positions the patient on his or her side, then applies a quick and precise thrust to the misaligned vertebra, returning it to its proper position.
• Release Work - the chiropractor applies gentle pressure using his or her fingertips to separate the vertebrae.
• Table adjustments - The patient lies on a special table with a "drop piece". The chiropractor applies a quick thrust at the same time the table drops. The dropping of the table allows for a lighter adjustment without the twisting positions that can accompany the manual adjustment.
• Instrument adjustments - often the gentlest methods of adjusting the spine. The patient lies on the table face down while the chiropractor uses a string-loaded activator instrument to perform the adjustment. This technique is often used to perform adjustments on animals as well.