There’s a pretty good chance that sentence has gone through your head before. There are times when I adjust you in an area that’s sore, and sometimes I adjust you somewhere else. Where you hurt is SOMETIMES where you’re subluxated. My job is always to identify and remove interference in your nerve system and while how you feel gives me some information, there are many other factors I look at as well.
This topic came to mind because I was at a chiropractic seminar on the weekend and we were talking about the massive impact upper neck subluxations have on the entire nerve system. A colleague reminded me about this research that showed an increase in hip mobility with only an upper neck adjustment. Here’s the article.
This study compared the effectiveness of an upper cervical (neck) adjustment and an adjustment of the hip (SI) joint for increasing hip range of motion in 52 subjects ages 18-34. Testing methods where performed using a hand held digital joint motion tool. The patients performed a straight leg raise to measure hip range of motion before and after the adjustment. The three groups included just cervical adjustment, just SI joint adjustment lying on their side and the third received a fake adjustment (pressure on the base of the skull). Range of motion was tested prior to the adjustment, the patient received one adjustment and then range of motion was re-tested.
Both spinal adjustment groups demonstrated increased flexion of the hip, however only the upper cervical adjustment increased hip flexion range of motion significantly.
An area of your spine may also be sore or tight because it’s compensating for another area that’s subluxated. Your innate intelligence will always compensate for a subluxated area. That often takes the form of a zig-zag pattern, where tenderness, inflammation or muscle tension alternates sides of your spine. In the pelvis, it’s very common that an area of lost movement isn’t where the problem lies. Here are some of the tools we use to assess where you’re subluxated: nerve scan, x-rays, balance, posture, joint movement, grip strength, muscle testing, palpation (checking your spine and soft tissues by hand), inflammation, temperature differences, leg length check and gait assessment.