Techniques

How Vivian adjusts

Technique is a decision made after the exam, not a brand Vivian is loyal to. Two patients with the same complaint can leave with two different adjustments because their joints, ages, injury histories, and tolerances are different.

Here is every method Vivian is trained in, what each one actually feels like on the table, and the situations that call for it.

The methods

4 techniques, chosen case by case

If any of these sound uncomfortable, say so at your exam. There is almost always another way to get the same joint moving.

Diversified

The most widely taught hands-on adjustment in chiropractic, and the method most people picture when they think of seeing a chiropractor.

What it feels like: A quick, shallow thrust delivered by hand to a specific joint. You often hear a pop — that is gas releasing from the joint capsule, not bones cracking — and the whole contact lasts a fraction of a second.
When Vivian uses it: Restoring motion to a spinal or extremity joint that has stopped moving through its normal range. It is the default starting point for most low back, mid back, and neck complaints.

Thompson Drop-Table

Uses a segmented table whose sections drop a fraction of an inch as the adjustment is delivered.

What it feels like: A gentle push followed by a soft mechanical clunk as the table section releases. Gravity does part of the work, so the force the doctor has to apply is much lower.
When Vivian uses it: Pelvic and lumbar adjusting, larger patients, and anyone who prefers less rotation in the low back.

Activator Methods

Instrument adjusting using a small spring-loaded tool that delivers a measured, repeatable impulse.

What it feels like: A light tap. There is no twisting, no popping, and no sudden movement of your body — which is why it is often the first thing we offer to nervous patients.
When Vivian uses it: Older patients, osteoporosis, acute inflamed joints, children, and anyone who tenses up at the thought of a manual adjustment.

Webster Technique

A specific sacral analysis and adjustment developed for pregnant patients, requiring separate certification.

What it feels like: Side-lying adjustment of the sacrum plus release of the round ligaments across the front of the abdomen. Tables are set up with cut-outs so you can lie comfortably through the third trimester.
When Vivian uses it: Pregnancy-related low back and pelvic pain, and restoring balanced pelvic mechanics. It addresses the mother's alignment; it is not a procedure performed on the baby.

How the technique gets chosen

Your first visit runs 60 to 90 minutes and most of it is not adjusting. Vivian takes a history, watches how you stand and move, measures range of motion, and tests the joints and soft tissue around the area that hurts. Only then does a technique get picked, because the exam is what rules options in and out.

A young athlete with a locked thoracic joint and a 78-year-old with osteoporosis and the same complaint will not get the same adjustment. Neither will someone six months into a disc herniation and someone who slept wrong on Tuesday.

If a manual adjustment is not right for you — because of age, bone density, an acute injury, pregnancy, or simply because the idea makes you tense up — Vivian has lower-force options: Thompson Drop-Table, Activator Methods. Tension works against an adjustment, so a technique you are relaxed about usually works better than the “stronger” one you dread.

Nothing is done without explaining it first. You will know what is about to happen, where, and why, and you can stop at any point.

What Vivian focuses on

Technique is the how. These are the cases these methods get used on most.

Whole-body healing
Patient-centered plans
Prenatal-capable care

Vivian practices at Pure Wellness Wilmington, 2106 Silverside Rd #102 in Wilmington. Read more about the conditions these techniques are applied to, or book an exam and find out which one fits your case.

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