Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
Who/What/When?
Upper cervical chiropractors often see patients with fairly significant challenges. Because assessment identifies misalignment long before symptoms are present, we encourage everyone to learn if postural and neurological rebalancing will allow their body to function more effectively. Treatment is only given to those found to have a measurable need for care. Postural and neurological rebalancing created by the upper cervical adjustment reduces gravitational stress allowing the body to direct that unused energy to self-healing, maintenance and thinking.
Yes, NUCCA helps children achieve a properly balanced body. Assessment is often as simple as checking specific reflexes, without the need for X-Rays. Because the amount of time since misalignment occurred is typically short, children generally respond quickly to adjustments and usually require fewer adjustments than adults to attain spinal stability.
Many chiropractic approaches address joint function and mobility by administering a short, quick thrust to a localized area on the spine or neck. NUCCA Chiropractors influence the entire spinal column's postural balance by returning the heavy head to a more balanced position on top of the narrow neck with a gentle adjustment to only the top vertebra. The benefit of NUCCA care is that long-term spinal and neurological balance is maintained which produces improved overall health and well-being. Learn more about NUCCA.
We tell patients to pay attention to their reflection in the mirror. Does your head tilt or is one shoulder lower than the other, for example? Other cues include feeling uneven weight distribution on your feet or if you experience a change in gait when you walk. More subtle indications include having to adjust your car rearview and side mirrors. We recommend periodic NUCCA assessment to verify proper balance.
When posture is corrected, the entire body rebalances itself resulting in less stress to all areas including your low back. Your postural muscles are constantly working to maintain an upright posture. Postural distortion results in uneven weight distribution over all of your joint surfaces. The muscles throughout your neck, back, arms and legs will compensate for this shift in weight. Pain will show up in the area of greatest breakdown. By reducing postural distortion, the NUCCA procedure decreases the stress on all areas of the body and allows for the relief of pain and proper healing.
NUCCA Adjustments
NUCCA effectively reduces postural distortion. The extent to which a person’s symptoms and postural distortion are related is learned and addressed over the course of treatment. There are three possible effects resulting from each adjustment.
- Minimal or no significant initial changes.
- Immediate improvement in symptoms.
- New short-term sensations associated with functioning in a new postural position.
All our patients receive a list of things they may experience as part of a normal response to treatment. Due to the significant postural rebalancing that occurs with the upper cervical adjustment, some patients may feel stiff and sore for 2-4 days as the body adapts to its new position. This discomfort is usually associated only with the first one or two adjustments.
The physics of leverage helps us do many things like move a pile of heavy bricks with the light push of a wheelbarrow. In a NUCCA adjustment, the doctor places their own body on a calculated angle to use the first vertebra and the weight of the head to gain a biomechanical advantage, ensuring the adjustment is specific to the patient's individual misalignment. The force generated by the doctor is transferred to the patient in such a gentle and precise fashion that many patients are unaware of any intervention whatsoever.
The doctor takes measurements at each visit. You are only adjusted when the objective findings indicate you have a postural distortion, such as uneven shoulders or hips, or a shortened leg. How often you get adjusted is directly related to your body's ability to maintain alignment. You will be given recommendations to help you achieve and maintain an aligned state.
The goal is to adjust you as few times as possible. Once stabilized, we usually recommend three to four assessments a year to assure that progress isn't lost. Keeping your spine aligned is just like preventive dental care (twice a year) and changing the oil in your car every 3,000 miles. Retaining alignment is the best way to keep symptoms like pain and decreased mobility from returning.
After your first adjustment in our office you will receive recommendations for conducting daily activities in ways that help support alignment. The Three Ts, thoughts, traumas, and toxins, contribute to a misaligned state. Negativity and stress show up in the body, like the tightness in your shoulders after a long day at work. Have you ever considered what those muscles are connected to? Traumas include daily repetitive postures and movements—like lifting and computer work. Car accidents and falls qualify, too. Toxins show up in foods and the environment. The Three Ts play a role in maintaining or losing alignment due to the stress they place on your body's systems.
Outcomes
Everybody heals at a different rate and there are many contributing factors. The more personal responsibility you assume in this process, generally, the better the results. If you break an arm, it’s kept in a cast for approximately six to eight weeks. That is the typical healing time for bone. With spinal misalignment, the integrity of the musculature and ligaments connected to the spine has been compromised. You must allow adequate time for these structures to heal in the aligned position. The longer your spine has been out of alignment, the more damage is possible, and therefore more healing time is likely required.
Many patients feel significant relief within the first few visits. Our goal is to provide relief and to create a situation where the spinal stresses that caused the issue are minimized, stabilized and you no longer need to be adjusted regularly. Symptoms are the last to show up and the first to leave (think of how cancer or heart attacks occur). A symptom-free state does not necessarily mean healing has completed or that you are in optimal alignment. Once your body begins showing signs that it is stabilizing and holding alignment for an extended period of time, we recommend longer times between visits.
Symptoms that require treatment can be the result of years of stressors on the body. Prevention and optimization is better that reactive, distress care. Periodic assessment ensures that if you are misaligned you can be adjusted to avoid spinal deterioration that often involves a return to pain or mobility challenges. Assessment includes objective measures that are independent from subjective symptoms.
Difference in leg lengths can indicate imbalanced tone in your body's musculature and therefore is one of the objective measures used to determine if you need adjustment. After an adjustment I often check again and find that leg length is balanced. Why? Postural muscles constantly contract and relax in response to normal body movements. This prevents us from falling over and allows us to maintain an upright posture. When the first vertebra is misaligned, the weight of the head is no longer evenly distributed over the neck and the rest of the body. The body therefore reflexively responds to this imbalance by contracting different postural muscles in its attempt to maintain an upright posture. It is the reflexive contractions of the postural muscles that result in the contracted/shortened leg.
By improving spinal alignment, people experience improved posture and a more balanced nervous system. Postural balance leads to better body-weight distribution, which improves the position of internal organs and helps protect the structures that stabilize the spine. When in balance, the body spends less energy to oppose gravity and provides more available energy to think, function, heal and maintain yourself. The nervous system basically controls everything within your body. When the nervous system is in balance, through proper spinal alignment, it has more opportunity to focus on whatever may be ailing you.
There is a misconception that once one begins seeing a chiropractor, they need to see one for the rest of their life. The healing process requires time and multiple visits to the chiropractor may be indicated to stabilize the spine until the body knows how to hold the spine in an aligned position on its own. The longer your spine has been breaking down (which is usually much earlier than the initial onset of symptoms), the longer it will typically take to attain a stabilized state. People who experience chiropractic care often recognize the health benefits and choose a lifestyle that includes three to four brief chiropractic care visits each year to assess spine stability.
