Chiropractic adjustment

“ The lay patient and the ignorant public are inclined to give credit for results obtained to the best known method used upon them. Thus in spite of the fact that Chiropractic alone obtains a far greater percentage of results than any other combination of methods, the patient is prone to believe that the change of diet or the massage effected a cure and to overlook entirely the least pleasant part of his “treatment,” the adjustment. He does not understand and cannot understand with a mind divided for the consideration of several methods, the connection of the spine with his disease. ”

“ Osteopathic manipulation, intelligently applied, proves of great value at all times during the fast and thereafter. Chiropractic adjustment of spinal column brings relief and comfort. And each of these schools, with their limitations recognized, are yet to be reckoned as important adjuncts on curative lines. The differences that arise among members of the medical profession are such as cannot occur among those who reason with nature from cause to effect, nor is it necessary for the natural practitioner to wait until disease has reached an acute stage before making diagnosis. ”

“ One will be surprised, however, at the amount of force required to move the vertebrae of a very small infant. It should be remembered that the vertebrae must move if we expect to get results. It must also be remembered that the child is small and that it is necessary to adapt the amount of force used to the size of the patient. It is not possible to injure a child with a chiropractic adjustment, but it is possible to apply an awkward force, supposed to be a corrective force, in such a way that subluxations may be produced. ”

“ Just as too frequently the young Chiropractor overlooks the fundamental logic of Chiropractic which may be epitomized with the terse command, “Adjust the cause,” and considers his practice as requiring him to dabble in every suggested or discovered method of treating effects, so, too frequently, the young Chiropractor is prone to consider that his practice consists solely of the adjustment of vertebrae, that he practices a mechanic art rather than a profession; too frequently he overlooks the thousand details which lead to and surround the adjustment and are essential to its success. ”

“ The body possesses only a certain limited capacity for combating disease or building weakened tissue. To scatter this force widely is to weaken its effect in any particular locality.
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The habit of specific adjustment and of selecting proper vertebrae enables the Chiropractor to explain definitely at any time just what he is doing and why he is doing it. We assert that in adjusting a vertebra we are removing the primary cause of disease. It is sometimes awkward to be asked if the patient has nine diseases or if it takes nine subluxations to cause one case of acute coryza. ”

“ Diabetes Mellitus.—Always necessitating grave and careful consideration, this metabolic disease is marvellously controlled by Chiropractic adjustment. Probably 90 per cent of all cases are curable, and only those presenting impossible problems of adjustment, or those in the very last stages, are hopeless. ”

“ In this connection the author cannot forbear a reference to the use of other methods to relieve disease in combination with the Chiropractic adjustment. From the foregoing study of the laws governing the cause and cure of disease it will be seen that therapeutical methods have little direct bearing upon the removal of disease. The logical method of effecting the cure is the removal of the cause. The subluxation being always the primary cause, its correction is always the logical method of effecting a cure. ”

“ Each patient is a specialist in the disease he believes himself to have and he expects from his doctor a greater knowledge than his own.
The recognition of contagious or infectious diseases as such is an absolute necessity in order to obey the laws and safeguard the public health. The exact condition and degree of vitality of the patient and the knowledge of the existence of abscess, gangrene, intestinal obstruction, etc.,301 often warns the Chiropractor that his adjustment would be dangerous to the patient. Much possible injury is avoided by accurate diagnosis. ”

“ In the class of beneficial adjuncts may be placed massage, hydrotherapy, spondylotherapy, dietetics, osteopathy, Christian Science, suggestive therapeutics, mechano-therapy, and many others. Each of these has its field of usefulness; each taken alone is productive of some good in some cases at least. Each might possibly augment the results of Chiropractic, or hasten them in some cases, if judiciously used. By judiciously used we mean the avoidance of any method which would in the least interfere with proper vertebral adjustment or its results or which might carelessly cause subluxation. ”

“ It is manifestly impossible by vertebral adjustment to raise the body beyond normal power. Nothing is added to the body; no energy is utilized other than the energy of the body itself which is provided by Nature and released through restoration of the normal carrying capacity of nerves. The highest goal attainable is normality, and it is observed that no matter whether the impingement be in the nature of an excitation or an inhibition of nerve action the effect of a correct adjustment is always in that direction—toward normality. ”

“ Laterality, superiority and inferiority are quite as essential, and the chiropractor should not be satisfied until he has convinced himself on the question of these directions. If there is no laterality, superiority or inferiority then the adjustment should be given straight toward the anterior. ”

“ The close contact of the hand, which remains passive, renders the adjustment much less painful to the patient than it would otherwise be, and one of the prime objects in the mind of the adjuster should be the minimizing of pain inflicted, by any means which does not lessen the resulting benefit. ”

“ We have learned how to discover a subluxation, how to adjust it, and how that adjustment permits a natural cure of its abnormal effects. We must now learn exactly where to218 apply adjustment for any given organ in the body or for any disease. It must be understood in interpreting this statement and all those which follow in this section that it is never proper to adjust a vertebra merely because it is stated to be the cause of a disease believed to exist in a patient. No vertebra should be moved unless palpation determines it to be subluxated. ”

“ Of those nerves mentioned as traceable, only such as are irritated and consequently swollen and tender, can be followed. If a nerve is very heavily impinged, especially if the impingement be chronic, it is partially or wholly paralyzed and not traceable. If the heavy impingement be acute, or if there be a light impingement serving as a mechanical irritant, nerve-tracing is a real aid to diagnosis.
Proportion of Cases with Traceable Nerves
About one-half of all the cases which visit Chiropractors for adjustment are susceptible of nerve-tracing. ”

“ The absence of tenderness from nerves does not negative a disease in any instance, whereas the absence of subluxation does. Like all other expedients for the selection of vertebrae for adjustment without admitting the necessity for first acquiring much skill by much labor, nerve-tracing has a great weakness. Only irritated nerves are tender and the effects of subluxation may be either irritation or paralysis. ”

“ The chief vertebra is nearly always the one at the angle or point of the curvature.
The sharp, angular curve of Potts’ Disease, involving two or three vertebrae, should warn against adjustment, usually, since in this disease the vertebrae are fragile and easily fractured. If a case has not progressed too far a cure may be effected, but great caution in taking such cases must be exercised. Every Chiropractor should be well informed on the diagnosis of Potts’ Disease, or spinal caries. ”

“ Having loosened subluxated vertebrae by adjustment their tendency is to settle in their old abnormal position and every movement of the patient for a time aids this tendency. Quiet permits adaptation of surrounding tissues to the changed position of the vertebra; action facilitates the re-adaptation of the vertebra to the state of surrounding tissues.
If possible a special room should be provided in which patients may lie down in comfort for twenty or thirty minutes following an adjustment. If more than one patient at a time is to rest, separate rooms should be provided for men and women. ”

“ The lazy motion suggests relaxation. Then when it is felt that the neck is thoroughly relaxed, vary the motion with a quick adjusting movement.
In Dorsal and Lumbar regions after the hands are in correct position the adjuster should pause a moment both to be sure that the direction of movement and his purpose to move are clearly fixed in his mind and to be certain that both himself and the patient are relaxed. The adjustment is given instantly and from a perfectly lax muscle, as a boxer strikes. ”

“ In palpating an infant it is usually best to place the child on the knees of an adult in the position for an adjustment. The child will be almost constantly on the move. It will therefore be necessary for the chiropractor to adapt himself to this constant moving. The child should be placed in as many different positions as possible to make the palpation. ”

“ Make it clear to him that less force will be required if his muscles are passive. Remind him frequently of this and assume that he desires to relax. A word immediately before the adjustment often induces a temporary relaxation during which96 the adjustment is given. Anything which detracts the attention from the coming shock is an aid. Sometimes asking the patient to inhale and exhale slowly and deeply will sufficiently take his attention from the adjustment. Experience will teach him that he suffers less pain when relaxed and presently relaxation becomes a habit. ”

“ It will be well for the student to master first the general rules and principles which govern vertebral adjustment and then to proceed to a detailed investigation of each movement, in turn, before practicing it. The art of adjusting can only be acquired by practice, and a high degree of excellence in it only by long-continued practice. ”

“ In ordinary chronic cases, with good vitality and reactive power, the daily adjustment is best at first. Then after a course of from six to twenty-four adjustments according to the judgment of the practitioner, the interval is lengthened and adjustments given on alternate days, a day of rest intervening between each two. In weak patients or those who are extremely sensitive, the shock of the daily adjustment, even at first, and the demand on the body’s recuperative power may be greater than can be met. ”

“ According to such theory it would be totally wrong and dangerous to abort a fever but wiser to encourage it in taking its course. The exact opposite proves true under Chiropractic. The very fact that fevers do diminish and disappear under proper adjustments is a proof that they are abnormal, since adjustment does not in any case tend to lessen normal processes, but only to restore normality no matter in what way the functions of the body have departed from that condition. ”

“ Correct and accurate adjustment must follow selection of the single vertebra and the adjuster must know that he233 has used the one special movement, or form of adjustment, which is mechanically right for that kind of subluxation and has so moved the vertebra as to release impingement. Mere movement of a vertebra is not necessarily an adjustment or even a maladjustment ”

“ In these cases, if the child is provided with food having sufficient nourishment, most excellent results will be obtained from chiropractic adjustments. A very careful analysis must be made in order to determine all the facts in the case for the major differs in different individuals. ”

“ With all due regard it must be said that up to the time of the introduction of chiropractic hygiene all the efforts were to clean the inside from the outside, but Chiropractic says the inside must be cleansed from the inside and this contention has been amply proven in the results obtained through chiropractic adjustments.
Advantages of a Proper Sanitary Environment
The body is capable of great possibilities in intellectual adaptation. It is possible for Innate Intelligence to maintain a degree of health in widely different conditions. ”

“ If the public could read what the hygienists have to say on the subject of immunology and could read it in the light of chiropractic philosophy they would realize that chiropractic adjustments will not only restore health to the sick, but will prevent the well from getting sick. ”

“ On the other hand, the practice of giving one adjustment a week from the beginning, as followed by some practitioners who maintain offices in numerous localities and visit each one day per week, is not generally productive of good results and it is the author’s practice to refuse new cases who profess their inability to take more than one adjustment weekly. ”

“ It may be as well to digress here long enough to remark that abnormal change is never the result of adjustment but always of maladjustment, and those189 who claim to be able to produce stimulation by moving a given vertebra one way and inhibition by moving it another are entirely wrong. ”

“ Cases with anterior cervicals offer the poorest chance. It is usually possible to restore consciousness and muscular control331 by an adjustment during the grande mal, in the instant between the tonic and clonic spasms, but such immediate response does not—unfortunately—always mean that a cure will eventually be effected. ”