What Does a Chiropractor Really Do?

It’s Much More Than Getting Your Back Cracked

By Dr. Dan Yachter D.C. | Elevation Health Chiropractic – Lake Mary, FL

When people find out that I’m a chiropractor, I already know what many of them are

thinking. “Okay, Doc. You crack backs.”

Nope.

After nearly three decades in chiropractic, let me tell you: if that is your understanding of chiropractic, you are seeing about 5% of the picture.

An adjustment is certainly an important part of what we do. But chiropractic is not about making noises in somebody’s spine. The sound isn’t the objective.

And chiropractic isn’t simply about chasing the spot that hurts.

Chiropractic is about the relationship between the spine, the nervous system,

posture, movement and the entire neuromusculoskeletal system—and identifying

and correcting problems called subluxations that can interfere with the way that

system functions.

That is a very different conversation.

So, what does a chiropractor really do?

Let’s talk about it.

First: What Is a Subluxation?

This is one of the most important words in chiropractic, and unfortunately, it is one of the least understood. A subluxation is more than saying, “This bone is out.”

That’s an oversimplification.

When spinal alignment and normal spinal mechanics change, you can create alterations involving the joints, muscles, ligaments, connective tissues, posture and nervous system.

Think of your spine as the framework of a building.

If part of the framework begins shifting away from its normal alignment, the problem isn’t limited to one beam.

Loads change.

Stress patterns change.

Other areas begin compensating.

Movement changes.

Muscles adapt.

And the longer that altered pattern remains, the more your body may adapt around it.

That is why at Elevation Health, we aren’t merely asking:

“Where does it hurt?”

We’re asking:

“Why isn’t this neuromusculoskeletal system functioning the way it was designed

to function?”

That’s a much better question.

Chiropractors Work With the Neuromusculoskeletal System

You will sometimes hear chiropractic described as treatment for the “musculoskeletal system.”

That’s incomplete.

The spine isn’t simply a stack of bones with muscles attached to it.

Your spine, joints, muscles, connective tissues and nervous system function together as an integrated neuromusculoskeletal system.

Your brain is continuously receiving information from the joints, muscles and tissues of your body about position, movement and balance.

Your nervous system uses that information to coordinate movement and help you adapt to gravity and your environment.

So when we’re evaluating the spine, we’re not looking only at bones.

We’re evaluating the relationship between:

•  Spinal alignment

•  Joint motion

•  Posture

•  Muscle balance

•  Neurological function

•  Movement patterns

•  The position of the head, rib cage and pelvis

•  The body’s relationship to gravity

Structure and function are connected.

That’s one of the fundamental principles behind the way we practice chiropractic at

Elevation Health.

An Adjustment Is Much More Technical Than “Pushing on a Bone”

So what actually happens when a chiropractor adjusts someone?

A proper chiropractic adjustment is a specific, controlled force delivered to a

specific area of the spine in a specific direction for a specific reason.

Read that again.

Specific.

Not random.

When I determine how I am going to adjust a patient, I’m considering things like:

•  What spinal segment or region needs to be addressed?

•  What is the patient’s posture?

•  Is there an abnormal translation or rotation?

•  What does the examination tell us?

•  What is the spinal geometry?

•  What direction should the corrective force be delivered?

•  How should the patient be positioned?

•  What contact point should be used?

•  What line of drive is appropriate?

•  How much force is appropriate for this individual?

•  Are we addressing segmental function, structural correction—or both?

That is the technical side of a chiropractic adjustment that most patients never hear about.

The adjustment isn’t about how loud the spine gets.

The adjustment is about the neurological and biomechanical response we are

trying to create.

Big difference.

At Elevation Health, We Don’t Guess With Your Spine

This is where Chiropractic BioPhysics®, or CBP®, becomes such an important part of our approach.

CBP applies principles of physics, biomechanics, spinal geometry and rehabilitation to chiropractic care.

Instead of simply saying, “Your posture looks bad,” we can evaluate spinal and postural relationships in much greater detail.

We look at how the:

HEAD

RIB CAGE

PELVIS

relate to one another and to gravity.

A person can translate forward, backward, right or left.

A person can rotate or tilt.

The spinal curves themselves can also deviate from their normal geometric

configuration.

For example, the neck should normally have a forward curve called a cervical lordosis.

The thoracic spine has a normal kyphotic curve.

The lumbar spine has a normal lordotic curve.

Those curves aren’t accidents.

Structure matters.

And when those normal relationships significantly change, the forces being transmitted through the spine change with them.

Chiropractic BioPhysics: Compare You to Normal

One of the concepts I love about CBP is that chiropractic becomes much more

objective.

Imagine going to your cardiologist and being told:

“Your blood pressure is kind of high-ish.”

You’d probably ask:

“Well…what’s the number?”

Exactly!

We measure blood pressure against established values.

We measure blood chemistry against reference ranges.

Why shouldn’t we objectively evaluate spinal alignment and posture when that

information is clinically appropriate?

CBP researchers have developed mathematical models describing normal spinal

alignment, including what is known as the Harrison Spinal Model.

This allows us to compare what we’re seeing in an individual patient with established spinal alignment models.

When clinically appropriate, that evaluation may include:

•  Detailed health history

•  Postural analysis

•  Orthopedic examination

•  Neurological examination

•  Range-of-motion testing

•  Functional assessment

•  Spinal examination

•  Standing spinal radiographs

•  Digital analysis of spinal alignment and curves

Now we’re not guessing.

We’re measuring.

And what gets measured can be remeasured.

That’s important.

There Is a Difference Between Feeling Better and Correcting the

Problem

This is one of the biggest distinctions I want patients to understand.

Symptoms matter.

Of course they matter.

If you’re hurting, I want you feeling better.

But pain is not always an accurate measurement of spinal health.

Think about high blood pressure.

Can you feel your blood pressure?

Usually not.

Think about a cavity.

Did the cavity begin the day the tooth started hurting?

Of course not.

Problems can exist before symptoms become obvious.

The same principle applies to the neuromusculoskeletal system.

A person may have forward head posture, abnormal spinal curves or other subluxation patterns long before the problem finally gets their attention through pain or reduced function.

So we have to distinguish between:

RELIEF

and

CORRECTION.

Getting somebody out of pain is wonderful.

But correcting abnormal spinal and postural mechanics is a different objective.

The CBP Corrective Model: Exercise + Adjustments + Traction

This is another reason our approach at Elevation Health may look different from what people traditionally imagine chiropractic to be.

Chiropractic BioPhysics uses what is sometimes described as the E.A.T. protocol:

E — Corrective Exercise

These aren’t simply generic strengthening exercises.

CBP may use Mirror Image® exercises, where the patient actively moves toward the

opposite direction of an identified postural displacement.

If your body has adapted to an abnormal posture, we want to challenge that pattern

rather than reinforce it.

A — Corrective Adjustments

CBP also uses specific Mirror Image® adjustment setups.

The head, rib cage or pelvis can be positioned toward the opposite of the abnormal

posture before the adjustment is delivered.

Why?

Because we’re not simply trying to make a stiff joint move.

We’re attempting to influence a specific spinal and postural pattern.

T — Corrective Traction

This is where structural rehabilitation becomes especially important.

Ligaments, discs, muscles and other connective tissues adapt over time.

A two-second stretch isn’t necessarily going to change something your body has been adapting to for 10 or 20 years.

CBP corrective traction applies sustained forces in specifically determined directions to address abnormal spinal curves and postural displacement.

Different spinal configurations require different traction setups.

That’s why everybody shouldn’t receive exactly the same care.

Your spine should determine the strategy.

Not somebody else’s spine.

We Want Objective Evidence That Your Spine Is Changing

One of the most important principles in our practice is reassessment.

If we tell you we’re trying to improve something, shouldn’t we eventually measure

whether it improved?

I think so.

CBP uses pre- and post-care measurements of posture and, when clinically

appropriate, spinal radiographs to evaluate structural changes.

That changes the conversation from:

“I think you’re doing better.”

to:

“Let’s measure it.”

How has your posture changed?

How has your function changed?

How have your objective examination findings changed?

Has the spinal curve changed?

Has the subluxation pattern improved?

Now we have something meaningful to discuss.

Chiropractic Isn’t Just for Back Pain

Do people with back pain come to chiropractors?

Absolutely.

Neck pain?

Absolutely.

Headaches, stiffness, injuries, poor posture and mobility problems?

Certainly.

But here’s what I want families to understand:

You don’t have to wait until your body is screaming before you pay attention to

your spine.

That’s like waiting for the check-engine light to start flashing before you ever look under the hood.

At Elevation Health, we care for children, athletes, parents, grandparents and entire

families because spinal health isn’t simply a pain issue.

• It is a function issue.

• It is a movement issue.

• It is a posture issue.

• It is a neuromusculoskeletal health issue.

And ultimately, it is about helping you maintain a body that can move, function and adapt as well as possible throughout your lifetime.

What Chiropractic Is NOT

Let me clear up a few things.

Chiropractic is not randomly pushing on wherever somebody says it hurts.

It isn’t trying to create the loudest possible popping sound.

It isn’t giving every patient the same adjustment.

And good chiropractic isn’t pretending that every health problem originates in the spine.

There are times when a patient needs additional diagnostic testing, medical evaluation or another healthcare professional.

Knowing when chiropractic is appropriate—and when something requires another type of care—is part of taking care of people responsibly.

But when a neuromusculoskeletal problem involving subluxation, spinal alignment,

posture and function is present, that’s exactly where a chiropractor should shine.

The Elevation Health Difference

After nearly three decades of taking care of patients, I’ve become more convinced of something, not less:

• Your spine deserves more attention than most people give it.

• We live on our phones.

• We sit for hours.

• Our kids spend enormous amounts of time looking down at screens.

• We get injured.

• We play sports.

• We work at computers.

• We age.

And through all of it, gravity never takes a day off.

So at Elevation Health, my objective isn’t simply:

“How can we make today’s pain disappear?”

I want to know:

• What is happening to your spine?

• Is subluxation present?

• What is happening to your posture?

• What is happening to your spinal curves?

• How well is your neuromusculoskeletal system functioning?

• And what can we do to help you build a healthier spine for the future?

That’s chiropractic.

Not chasing symptoms.

Not cracking backs.

Evaluating. Adjusting. Correcting. Rehabilitating. Measuring. Educating.

And helping people become active participants in their own health.

The Bottom Line

So, what does a chiropractor really do?

A chiropractor evaluates the neuromusculoskeletal system, identifies areas of spinal dysfunction and subluxation, and uses specific chiropractic adjustments and other corrective strategies to improve spinal mechanics, posture and function.

At Elevation Health, we take that one step further through the principles of Chiropractic BioPhysics®, using objective measurements and individualized corrective procedures when appropriate to address not only how the spine feels—but how it is structured and functioning.

Because feeling better is important.

But our goal is bigger than simply feeling better.

We want you functioning better.

Moving better.

Adapting better.

And taking care of your spine today so it can continue taking care of you for decades to come.

Ready to Find Out What’s Really Happening With Your Spine?

If you’ve never had your spine and posture properly evaluated—or if you’ve only thought of chiropractic as something you do when your back hurts—it may be time to look at things differently.

Schedule a consultation with Dr. Dan Yachter and the Elevation Health team in Lake

Mary, Florida, and let’s determine what your spine and neuromusculoskeletal system actually need.

Elevation Health Chiropractic

Lake Mary, Florida

(407) 333-2277

Don’t just chase pain. Build health.