10 Commandments of adjustments!
After I had my first adjustment I was feeling a little dizzy. With a few hours of rest I felt as good as new and went on with my normal routine:talked on my cell phone using my neck as the cradle, then went on to the gym and in the midst of my shoulder shrugs, cracked my neck and that dizzy feeling came back.
A few days later, I went for my next visit with Dr.Kaszer and told him of the dizzy feeling at the gym. After reexamining my adjustment, it turns out that I had thrown my neck back out of alignment.
I had soon come to learn that when the neck joint is manipulated, the bones in the neck come back to their position naturally. However, the bones (vertebrae) in the neck are very delicate and sometimes people can suffer from dizziness after neck adjustment. But this condition is very rare and occurs in less than 6.8 percent of people who visit chiropractors for neck adjustment. This occurs due to neurological input and it affects the balance, the body’s awareness to space and functioning of the inner ear.
However, dizziness after neck adjustment is temporary and lasts only for a few seconds or minutes. It also didnt help that I had cracked my neck . On to that issue :
When it comes to me constantly wanting to crack my neck, the joint ‘wants’ to crack because it has sensory organs within that tell it that the pressure is not right, that movement should be happening differently, that there is adhesion forming. Movement is natural and the tightness there is irritating.
The problem with the repetitive cracking is that you’re moving the joint unnaturally – you’re substituting one problem for another. Incorrect ‘cracking’ stretches the joint capsule and creates a minor injury with each crack, encouraging further stiffness to prevent injury.
In short, cracking eventually makes a cycle that makes the cracking worse. With that being said Dr. Kaszer gave me a few commandments to follow:
1. Don’t sleep on your stomach. It puts too much strain on the very neck muscles that are necessary for you to hold the correction.
2. Don’t cradle the phone with your head and shoulder. You are not using your neck muscles properly and will cause the muscles to fatigue quickly. This in time will affect the correction.
3. Do not use your head to move in bed. Some individuals will push their head into the pillow and use this activity to turn or move in bed. The neck muscles are not strong enough to properly do this without damaging the neck.
4. Do not fall asleep sitting up. This will cause the head to fall forward and then proceed to jerk up. This does tremendous damage to the whole neck and can cause you to lose the correction.
5. Don’t carry loads unevenly. For example, if you have one grocery bag, carry it in front of you. If you have two bags try to have equal weight in each bag.
6. Ladies, don’t carry heavy purses over one shoulder.
7. Don’t turn your head in a fast motion, or hyper flexion, i.e., reading a book in your lap.
8. Don’t lift heavy objects improperly. Lift with your legs and knees, not your back.
9. Don’t crack your neck. Ever!!
10. Don’t miss your appointments, even if you are feeling “fine.” Check-ups are very important to assure you are holding the correction, and your body continues to heal. If you think you have lost the correction before your next scheduled appointment, come in AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Shayna Macklin
New Patient Coordinator/Marketing Director
