Structural Chiropractic vs. Conventional Chiropractic

Conventional Chiropractic:  If you have ever been to a chiropractor, in most cases you will have received conventional chiropractic care as this is what the majority of chiropractors do.  Conventional chiropractic treatment tends to focus on the compensatory problem areas where you have restricted motion, pain, and muscle tension or spasm.  In most cases, they do a great job of helping people who are experiencing secondary compensatory painful symptom (SECONDARY CONDITIONS).  This is what most chiropractors in this area provide in the way of care.  This approach also tends to provide temporary symptom relief and as such is categorized as symptom or relief care.

Structural Chiropractic:  Just for one moment, imagine that your spine is the foundation of a building. Now, if the foundation was displaced or not correctly balanced, you can expect that with time the floors will start to creak, the walls will start developing cracks in them and the windows and doors will start to break down or stick.  Unfortunately, when this happens, some folks only focus on patching the damage, although, as you know, eventually the uncorrected problems will reoccur and cause them to have to… REPAIR THE SAME THINGS OVER & OVER AGAIN because they never properly corrected the structural foundation.

At Body Right Chiropractic, our Doctor focuses on the non-surgical STRUCTURAL CORRECTION  (Click to See the Results) of the spine and other body structures.  Our Doctor has acquired the additional training and experience to address other body structures (shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, hips, knees ankles & feet) as they often effect the correction of the underlying spinal structure.

Our structural chiropractic approach is DIFFERENT than conventional chiropractic methods.  Primarily, we focus on correcting what is called an ANTERIOR STRUCTURAL DISPLACEMENT (ASD) which occurs  when the upper portion of your spine is displaced anterior (forward) relative to the lower portion.   When one develops ASD, it leads to a secondary compensatory structural twist or the spine and other body structures.

The secondary COMPENSATORY STRUCTURAL TWIST (CST) is where you develop restricted motion, pain, and muscle tension or spasm which is primarily what conventional chiropractors address.

In the strong foundation poster, in the profile image on the left, you will notice an image that represents a normal side view (see the NORMAL STRUCTURE picture below).

In the profile image on the right, you will notice an anterior (forward) displacement of the upper portion of the spine and body.  This represents a severe example of the Anterior Structural Displacement.

To correct the ASD and resultant CST that lead to SECONDARY CONDITIONS, our Doctor uses the BODY RIGHT SYSTEM.  Our comprehensive approach addresses the spine and other body structure (as mentioned above)-after all, your body structure (which is your body’s inner structural framework) is made up of more than just your spine.

By correcting the ANTERIOR STRUCTURAL DISPLACEMENT, it allows the body to naturally correct the secondary COMPENSATORY STRUCTURAL TWIST and resulting SECONDARY CONDITIONS via a process we call RE-RIGHTING.  Think of it this way.  If your car frame is bent and the tires are starting to wear, you would not just rotate the tires.  Instead, you would straighten out the frame and prevent the tires from wearing out.  Although, rotating the tires may be an option, it is better to fix what is causing them to wear and not just move the tires around as eventually, no matter what, they are going to wear out sooner than they should.

What Is Normal Structure?

Although no one is perfect, Doctors agree there is an accepted standard of Normal.  In the NORMAL STRUCTURE picture above, you will notice an illustration of the ideal alignment of  the spinal structure.

The Spine is broken down into 3 basic sections.  Everything attached to a rib is known as  your mid back or thoracic spine.  Everything above that is your neck or cervical spine.    Everything below that is your low back or lumbar spine.  You head is on top of your neck  and your pelvis is beneath your low back.

From the side the spine actually is curved not straight.  There is a forward curve in the  neck, a backward curve in the mid back, and a forward curve in the low back.  In this  side view, if you draw a line from the center of your ear, it should line up with the center  of your shoulder hip, knee, and ankle.

From back to front the head, shoulders, and hips should all be level.

We are all familiar with the idea of normal body temperature, normal blood pressure, normal eye sight and even a normal heart rate.  How do we know if these things are abnormal?  Just like our car tires, how do we know the air pressure is low?  The only way to know is to know what normal is and compare it by way of an examination.  This is also how one would also go about determining if their structure had shifted well beyond an acceptable normal range.  THEY WOULD EXAMINE IT!!!

At Body Right Chiropractic, this is exactly what we do.  We perform a COMPREHENSIVE STRUCTURAL EXAMINATION  using several OBJECTIVE measures (inarguable indicators if you will) to determine if a your structure and function is outside and acceptable range of normal.  We then use that information and our experience to determine what it will take to correct your abnormally displaced structure and get it back into an acceptable range again.

Our approach much like an orthodontist is to correct your structure.  Just as you can’t  correct crooked teeth with dental fillings, you can’t correct your structure with a band-aid ( a conventional approach). When you are examined in our office, if your structure is departed from an acceptable range, you will know OBJECTIVELY that you have a structural problem and you will be provided an appropriate recommendation to correct it.  Although many folks first come to our office because of a painful compensatory structural condition, our care recommendations are not be based upon pain.  Instead, they are be based upon the condition of your structure as determined by your comprehensive structural examination.  You either have a structural problem that needs corrected or you don’t!  It is that simple.

Want to learn more?  Refer to the WHAT IS ASD? (ANTERIOR STRUCTURAL DISPLACEMENT) tab or come in for a COMPLIMENTARY CONSULTATION.  It’s a conversation, not a commitment.