X-rays are a Chiropractor's road map to your spine. Fractures, bone density, arthritis of the spine, cancers, abnormalities, and spinal degeneration cannot be accurately determined without x-rays. They also serve to document a patient's progress, showing improvements in spinal structure.

NO! Certainly it is possible to make popping sounds by turning one's head in a certain way or bending or twisting the body, yet, these are not adjustments. Chiropractic adjustments are specific procedures delivered to only the area(s) of the spine that are subluxated. Besides the risk of self-inflicting damage, patients who attempt to manipulate themselves often cause these joints to become too loose and hypermobile. The resulting damage to the ligaments and other supporting tissues can cause serious problems. Even I must look to another Chiropractic doctor to be adjusted.

Chiropractic adjustments are designed to restore normal motion and position of individual bones of the spine. If there has been a passage of time (weeks or years) since the event causing the subluxation, supporting muscles and connective tissue are damaged. Eventually these malfunctioning muscles are infiltrated with fibrosis, a form of scare tissue. This fibrotic tissue is a lot like the gristle on a cheap cut of meat. This scar tissue significantly alters muscle elasticity and muscle tone (myopathology), interfering with the muscle's ability to assume proper function. Pain or other obvious symptoms are not always present to indicate subluxation. Yet, degeneration/decay, nervous system interference, suppressed immunity and other problems are occurring. Subluxation(s) can occur for years: it would be unreasonable to expect stabilize it in one or two adjustments. Chiropractic cases are a lot like Orthodontic(s) cases. When the teeth are crooked, it can take years to straighten them out. Luckily, adjustments can straighten your vertebra in a fraction of that time. Each adjustment builds on the next one safely restoring normal juxtaposition of the vertebra leading to proper structure and function (homeostasis) of the body.