What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?

I've received a lot of questions about the name of my blog and what an actual chiropractic adjustment is, so I decided to address it formally in a post. First, I will explain my non-expert description and then I will give you a formal definition and some links to more reading.

A Chiropractic Adjustment from a Patient's Perspective:
When I went in to see my chiropractor for the first time, I was experiencing extreme pain in my lower back. I learned that your spine moves in three dimensions and that there are bundles of nerves that travel down and out the spine at various points. It doesn't take much pressure to cause pain, actually Dr. Pagano placed two quarters on the top of my hand and explained the slight weight I was feeling would cause the pain I had at that time... Any more pressure and I'd be in the emergency room!

So, when your spine is out of alignment, which can be caused by a number of factors, like trauma, stress, etc., you can feel pain. My trouble is in my lower back (my sacrum to be exact). In my x-ray, it looked slightly tilted. I need it to be straight, not tilted...so how do you accomplish this? Enter the adjustment. Through a series of manual procedures, my chiropractor aligns my spine with the hope that over time, the alignment will take hold. My muscles essentially are prohibiting my spine from staying properly aligned, since my back has been out of whack for over 4 years...

The adjustment doesn't take long, typically under 10-15 minutes and you will be amazed how you feel after it. Like I have said in previous posts, I get up and the pain is typically gone... It's not until some time later that it starts to creep back in, but again, it's going to take time for my spine to stay properly aligned. Yes, you here cracks and pops, and it's scary to hear that, but it's not painful at all. You definitely start to wonder what's going on, but after a few visits, you don't even think about it. I have seen incredible results so far and there is no way it could have happened without these manual procedures being performed.

Chiropractic Adjustment from a Professional's Perspective:
Here's a good definition I found on About.com:
An adjustment is a procedure performed by a chiropractor that "influences joint and neurophysiological function"1. An adjustment uses leveraged force, combined with direction, amplitude and velocity to effect a therapeutic change in specific anatomical regions, particularly spinal joints.

More links:
ChiroWeb Definition of the Adjustment:
http://www.chiroweb.net/chiropractic/adjustment.html

Wikipedia Entry for Spinal Adjustment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_adjustment

Answers.com:
http://www.answers.com/topic/spinal-adjustment