Have you noticed how sitting still and NOT moving actually makes your body hurt? Motion is actually good medicine. Medical manipulation is a manual treatment designed to relieve a restriction, or decreased movement, in a motion segment. A motion segment is defined as a functional unit consisting of two adjacent articulating surfaces and the surrounding connecting tissue. Restrictions found during motion palpation are the only indication for performing medical manipulations or “adjustments”.
Veterinary medicine uses the term “medical manipulation” instead of “chiropractic” as the latter refers to humans only. To prevent injury or harm to animals, medical manipulations should only be performed by veterinarians certified in the practice. However, depending on individual state law, human chiropractors may be able to complete education and certification to manipulate animals.
Causes of a restriction or loss of range of motion include adhesion, synovial tab entrapment, mechanical joint locking, trauma, muscle spasm and somatosomatic reflex. These restrictions are diagnosed by “motion palpation” of the functional segments. Motion palpation is a very gentle and painless procedure. The examination extends nose to tail and includes everything in between. Most patients find the examination very enjoyable.
The effects of a restriction or hypomobility can be divided into three main categories including local, nervous system and compensatory effects. Local effects include cartilage degeneration due to lack of movement and decreased nutrient circulation, adhesion formation due to lack of motion, muscle splinting/spasm or vasoconstriction due to increased sympathetic tone. Restrictions and lack of movement also affect the nervous system which suffers decreased cortical stimulation necessary for brain health, decreased sympathetic/nociceptive inhibition, pain and compromised peripheral nerve function. Compensatory effects in adjacent motion units include hypermobility as well as potential for muscle and tendon strain or tears. The good news is that these deleterious effects are reversible.
Clearing restrictions is performed in order to allow free movement, prevent cartilage degeneration from lack of nourishment, prevent adhesions from forming within the joint, restore normal circulation to the joint and surrounding tissues and restore normal muscle tone. Clearing restrictions and restoring motion will “feed” the brain cortex with healthy proprioceptive input, inhibit sympathetic tone to prevent stress and anxiety, inhibit nociceptive pain, prevent wind-up pain from nociceptive fibers branching to mechanoreceptors and maintain normal peripheral nerve function. This restoration of motion will aid in preventing muscle hypotonicity leading to joint laxity, compensatory hypermobility in adjacent motion segments with compensatory muscle hypertonicity that leads to muscle and tendon strain and degenerative joint disease,
Relieving or clearing restrictions is done through gentle motion palpation during the examination or with specific manipulations of the motion segment in the correct plane, at the correct angle and with proper gentle application.
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