7 Ways Upper Cervical Care Differs From Traditional Chiropractic

January 27, 2017by Dr. Jeff Forest

Upper cervical doctors give corrections, not adjustments. Corrections signify that something is being fixed and stabilized, requiring less and less attention over time. I love my patients, but I don’t want them “living” in my office three times per week for the rest of their lives. I want them to go out and enjoy their lives — feeling great and functioning at their highest potential!
Upper cervical doctors won’t correct you without first taking x-rays. Just like an engineer would never begin building without studying a set of blueprints, upper cervical doctors analyze the structure of your head and neck before treatment begins. They utilize multi-planar digital imaging of your unique anatomy to create an individualized formula for your correction. No guess work is involved.
Upper cervical doctors measure your body’s postural balance and nervous system function during every visit. They use objective measures to check the function and balance of the nervous system to help direct care and the clinical decision making process. Upper neck misalignments are detrimental to health. Spinal cord/brainstem tension and altered blood and cerebrospinal fluid flow are commonly a result of not having your head on straight. Luckily in most cases, upper cervical care can help.
Upper cervical doctors won’t correct you on every visit. Healing comes from maintaining or “holding” your corrected alignment, not the correction itself. Corrections are only delivered when the body presents objective signs of needing it. When you’re holding, you’re healing. But don’t forget healing is a process, not an event.
Upper cervical doctors measure the effectiveness of the correction after it is delivered. Typically, several post-correction checks are conducted every time you get an upper cervical correction to ensure you leave the office more balanced than when you arrived.
Upper cervical doctors always deliver a gentle correction without “popping”, “twisting”, or “cracking” the neck. The upper neck is a unique and delicate area of the body. It requires much less force to re-align compared to the rest of the spine, yet corrections must be accurate and precise to yield maximum health benefits.
Upper cervical doctors concentrate on head-neck balance and alignment. Every nerve which goes from the brain to the body travels through the upper neck. Proper head-neck alignment is directly connected to the body’s ability to express life, health, and longevity. Unlike the stronger, more stable areas of the spine which have intervertebral discs and interlocking facet joints, the upper neck maintains its’ alignment from only muscles and ligaments, which are more prone to injury.