THERE IS A RANGE IN THE IMPACT THAT AN UPPER CERVICAL CHIROPRACTIC CORRECTION HAS. WHAT ARE THE VARIABLES THAT CREATE THE RANGE?
The skill of the Upper Cervical Doctor in general.
Much like a farmer who only has a limited amount of land in which to plant his crop, the upper cervical doctor is limited by the amount of skill that they have developed to deliver a correction. As the farmer can expand the acreage of his/her farm, so too can the UC doctor or expand the range of his/her skill. It is not a fixed quantity, but one that can and does expand with intention and experience.
The state of the UC doctor at the time of a particular correction.
Although the farmer may have 5 acres of land, in a given year, he/she may not plant all 5 acres. Maybe they plant just 3. In kind, as the UC doctor may have the capacity to deliver the correction on, let’s say, a scale of 100. They may at a given point and time only deliver on say, a level of 70. This is why intention and present time consciousness are so important to the UC doctor.
The parameters of the patient in general.
In general, the patient may be very healthy or very stressed and sick. These parameters will govern the quantitative extent to which the correction may influence a patient. It is established that people who have lost their health in varying degrees can see significant results from corrections.
Further, it is critical to cite that healthy patients, who manage well the 3 dimensions of stress in their life and show limited signs of body imbalance, benefit from the correction. In fact, qualitatively, corrections received while a patient is in this state of well-being are significant. But much like the starving man who needs food, when given nourishment the impact of food on this person is quantitatively greater than it would be on a satiated individual. Again, not that food doesn’t benefit a person that is not starving. In fact, it is better to receive nourishing food regularly while not starving than it is to wait till you starve and then try to eat. In kind, it is better for one to receive a correction in a healthier state than waiting till health deteriorates.
The parameters of the patient at the time of the correction.
A healthier patient may have a ‘bad day’ – or in upper cervical chiropractic terms, an over-stressed day. The range of the impact of the correction in that particular moment will be affected by this. If the over-stressed patient is ‘receptive’ to the correction (which is the result of the office environment, staff, and UC doctor getting the patient to the ‘receptive’ state in preparation for the correction) then the range of impact is substantial. If patient is over-stressed without relief at the moment of the correction, then it would be as trying to correct a turtle through its shell… that range of impact of the correction would be minimized.
So we have these 4 variables that exist at the moment of any particular correction. The interactions of these variables is complex. And we must realize that in upper cervical chiropractic, we look at these corrections in a series; not relying on one particular correction to conclude on the impact of care on a particular person. But rather, we look at a time-series of corrections to assess such.
However, the cumulative total is comprised of the aggregate of the individual corrections. (We will hold aside from this essay what the patient does between visits and what the UC doctor’s process is immediately after the correction. A hint - I am a big fan of something that has all but vanished from practice – the Resting Room.)
With this understanding about the variables related to the range of impact of the correction, what can practitioners do to maximize the results for the betterment of the patient? Where do they have influence?
1) Constantly strive to increase the skill level at which they can deliver their corrections.
2) Inculcate a process in which they bring themselves to a state of extreme focus and intention before each and every individual correction they give every day.
3) Educate their patients and provide leadership, and maybe even provide services, if they are so inclined, related to their lifestyle behaviors outside of the office.
4) Have a process of preparation for every patient, prior to every correction, so that their body is in a ‘receptive state’ prior to being adjusted.
I cite these as actionable steps, not mere theory. Delivering on the goods is something every upper cervical chiropractic doctor should be obsessed with. If you have found a doctor that does this you have a winner on your hands so stick with it as you are very likely to reap significant benefits from care.
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