What is that sound, why do patients immediately feel different?

To understand what’s going on in a dynamic thrust adjustment you need to picture the joint as if it were the liquid between two flat surfaces like the bottom of a wet plate on the counter top. Think of an adjustment as the moment when you release that suction the water can produce as you try to lift the plate off the counter top. This analogy is very close to an adjustment. The sound you hear during a dynamic thrust adjustment is the release of surface tension and the formation of a vacuum with-in the joint capsule.

The formation of the vacuum within the joint is the magic of an osseous adjustment because it is like rebooting the joint capsule.  After the vacuum is formed it acts as a cushion inside the joint capsule. This cushioning cancels pain signals which can emanate from the joint and inhibitor function. Joints capsules throughout the body contain specialized nerve receptors mainly mechanoreceptors and nociceptors. Mechanoreceptors are the specialized receptors you use to set muscle tone, assisting in coordination, strength, movement, and balance. Nociceptors are the specialized receptors for pain. You use nociceptors to inhibit strength, movement thereby protecting your joints from further injury.

Think of them as + & – signs with mechanoreceptors being + signs and nociceptors as – signs. Mechanoreceptors allowing and directing your strength, agility, and coordination and nociceptors inhibiting, diminishing or canceling  your strength, agility, and coordination.

This is why when a person is in pain they are weaker and less coordinated. This is also why professional athletes use and benefit from Chiropractic treatments to give them a competitive edge. Chiropractic treatments can minimize or eliminate nociceptors activity and there by allow the athlete to express their full strength, agility and coordination.

The next surprising facts are how fast it happens and how long it lasts. The shutting off of nociceptor activity with an osseous adjustment takes 1/10^th of a second. That’s why patients immediately feel different. The benefits outlast all other treatment approaches by hours to days and when done correctly the benefits are accumulative lasting weeks, months and even years

So now you have a partial understanding of the basic physiology and neurology in a joint when a typical Chiropractic adjustment is done. There is a lot more to know, but you already know enough to ask yourself a question. Who would benefit from an optimized mechanoreceptor output and a minimized nociceptor output ? Answer absolutely everyone!

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