Techniques

How Michael adjusts

Technique is a decision made after the exam, not a brand Michael is loyal to. Two patients with the same complaint can leave with two different adjustments because their joints, ages, injury histories, and tolerances are different.

Here is every method Michael is trained in, what each one actually feels like on the table, and the situations that call for it.

The methods

4 techniques, chosen case by case

If any of these sound uncomfortable, say so at your exam. There is almost always another way to get the same joint moving.

Diversified

The most widely taught hands-on adjustment in chiropractic, and the method most people picture when they think of seeing a chiropractor.

What it feels like: A quick, shallow thrust delivered by hand to a specific joint. You often hear a pop — that is gas releasing from the joint capsule, not bones cracking — and the whole contact lasts a fraction of a second.
When Michael uses it: Restoring motion to a spinal or extremity joint that has stopped moving through its normal range. It is the default starting point for most low back, mid back, and neck complaints.

Cox Flexion-Distraction

A gentle, non-surgical decompression method performed on a table with a moving lower section.

What it feels like: You lie face down while the table slowly flexes and stretches the lumbar spine. It is rhythmic and repetitive rather than a single thrust, and most patients describe it as a relief rather than a jolt.
When Michael uses it: Disc herniation, sciatica, spinal stenosis, and lower back pain that gets worse with sitting. It is the technique of choice when a disc is involved and a rotary adjustment would be too aggressive.

Activator Methods

Instrument adjusting using a small spring-loaded tool that delivers a measured, repeatable impulse.

What it feels like: A light tap. There is no twisting, no popping, and no sudden movement of your body — which is why it is often the first thing we offer to nervous patients.
When Michael uses it: Older patients, osteoporosis, acute inflamed joints, children, and anyone who tenses up at the thought of a manual adjustment.

Instrument-Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilisation

Uses contoured stainless steel tools to find and break down adhesions in muscle and fascia.

What it feels like: The tool is drawn across the skin with a lubricant. You feel a grinding sensation over restricted tissue and almost nothing over healthy tissue. Temporary pink marking is normal.
When Michael uses it: Tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, tennis and golfer's elbow, IT band restriction, and post-surgical scar tissue.

How the technique gets chosen

Your first visit runs 60 to 90 minutes and most of it is not adjusting. Michael takes a history, watches how you stand and move, measures range of motion, and tests the joints and soft tissue around the area that hurts. Only then does a technique get picked, because the exam is what rules options in and out.

A young athlete with a locked thoracic joint and a 78-year-old with osteoporosis and the same complaint will not get the same adjustment. Neither will someone six months into a disc herniation and someone who slept wrong on Tuesday.

If a manual adjustment is not right for you — because of age, bone density, an acute injury, pregnancy, or simply because the idea makes you tense up — Michael has lower-force options: Cox Flexion-Distraction, Activator Methods. Tension works against an adjustment, so a technique you are relaxed about usually works better than the “stronger” one you dread.

Nothing is done without explaining it first. You will know what is about to happen, where, and why, and you can stop at any point.

What Michael focuses on

Technique is the how. These are the cases these methods get used on most.

Whole-body wellness
Lifestyle coaching
Soft-tissue care

Michael practices at Pure Wellness Camden and Dover, 4608 S Dupont Hwy Unit 3 in Dover. Read more about the conditions these techniques are applied to, or book an exam and find out which one fits your case.

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