Question
QUESTION: I just began to get my atlas aligned with the orthogonal technique because my adjustments done by traditional manipulation were not holding. Both times I was adjusted it felt great for one day only. I know, you might say it's my pillow but I brought it in and he said it's perfect. I sleep on my back most of the night. I'm so disappointed that it's not holding. What can I do? I can't see him everyday!

ANSWER: Great question Melissa. This is a multi-faceted question. Holding an adjustment depends on many factors like:

The skill of the Doctor and how is the doctor determining you need to be adjusted? The GOLD standard for Upper Cervical care is Skin Temperature Differential Analysis (STDA) using a Tytron or Thermoscribe for determining when to adjust and when to leave you alone.

The things I look for are: (STDA) will balance and your postural distortions will begin to unwind and/or balance consistently. In my office I do not go by symptoms as an indicator for success. Of course I want my patients to feel better however my primary concern is the CAUSE of your problem. If I can fix the CAUSE of your problem your symptoms will start to go away as your body heals. Which can at times seem like a roller coaster ride meaning you will have good days and bad days. But as your body heals you will have more and more good days and less and less bad days. Does that make sense?

So assuming the work is being done CORRECTLY, you will get better as your body heals. There is only one exception to the rule and that is the limitations of matter. For example if you cut your arm off their is no amount of adjusting we could do that will make it grow back again. Does that make sense? So there are limitation of matter. I do not see that you listed your reason for seeking out an Upper Cervical Doctor and that is ok.

It is also important to point out that some patients can go many months with just one correction and some patients need to be adjusted on a regular basis in the beginning. So again assuming the work is being done CORRECTLY then you need to give your body TIME to HEAL.

Thank you for your question.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: In response, I wanted to mention that I don't have an injury so there is nothing to heal. It's just that the atlas doesn't stay in place. It's been determined that my atlas is the root cause of my C1 and C2 to misalign which causes a lot of pain.

Answer
It can sometimes be very difficult to answer questions with very little information.

People usually have head and neck misalignment for YEARS before they even start having symptoms.

For every effect there is a CAUSE. Many people forget about accidents and injuries they had 10, 20, 30 years ago. Many people will come back after a few days and say you know what I was in a car accident or I fell down some stairs etc.