Your first session with a chiropractor often involves an assessment of posture, mobility of your joints, and sometimes lifestyle. There are various standard tests such as the Thomas test, which determines mobility in the hip joints, and the Yeoman's test, which involves the practitioner flexing your legs one at a time to assess the joints for sprain and mobility. The chiropractor might also ask you to bend, raise your legs, test your reflexes, take your blood pressure or even an x-ray to build up a more detailed picture of a problem. As with osteopathy chiropractors try to track down restricted or excessive joint movement, especially in the spine, because they believe these problems are the cause of inflammation, swelling and pressure that leads to pain and illness. A chiropractor might use massage to loosen stiff muscles before focusing on manipulation techniques.
Manipulation usually involves a sharp, precise thrusting movement of a joint to 'free it up'.
There are several standard techniques aimed at making so-called adjustments . For instance, the Toggle Drop involves a swift and precise pressure applied with the hands to specific bones in the spine while you lie face down. The Bunyon adjustment involves the practitioner applying stretch between the bones of the spine traction to adjust it. The various manipulations often cause clicking noises, which can be quite alarming to the patient and may cause a little pain or discomfort at the time, but this quickly eases off, and the procedure has been shown to be extremely safe. Chiropractic will often provide effective long-term management of a condition and fully relieve symptoms.