Check to see you need adjustment

How to Check to see you need an Adjustment.

I often get asked how you can check to see if you need an adjustment at home.

Loss of function and movement are usually early warnings that the pain in your neck or back are about to re-surface.  Run through these simple tests to catch problems early, so you can save time and money.

A basic check for the neck is to turn side to side: are you moving easily to get the nose around over the shoulder?  What about getting the ear 1/2 way over to the shoulder.  Day to day this could mean it’s hard to check the blind spot while driving or to turn the head to reverse the car.

Things to keep in mind for your low back: can you touch toes and more importantly, can you straighten back up without having to use hands to push up on the knees?  What about getting off the chair without having to bend back to loosen up afterwards?

Another one I hear patients describe often is the inability to put the jox and sox on in the morning.  Don’t laugh!  That inability to bend early in the day is a warning sign that you are accumulating some inflammation or wear’n’tear.

Have a look on the video above to see more details.

Other individual tests

These are very basic tests and you could “pass” these and still require an adjustment.  Probably a better way to track your progress is to monitor the things that were difficult to do when you started care.  Some more examples of things patient’s tell me and I keep track of to monitor progress:

1. golf swing is “off” eg slice is bad again
2. can’t look up to prune trees like usual
3. bending to vacuum/mop is harder again
4. pins and needles in hands to lie on side in bed
5. neck and shoulder tension increasing at the computer or while driving
6. hard to swing the legs in/out of the car again
7. can’t hold head up to paddle while surfing

This list could go on as personal restrictions can be as individual as you are.

So if you “failed” any of those tests, now is the time to call!