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Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy (CMT)

Chiropractic manipulative therapy (CMT) is what most people consider chiropractic to be. It involves high velocity, low amplitude adjustments (manipulation) to dysfunctional joints. An adjustment has multiple effects on the joints and surrounding areas, including one of which is its ability to decrease pain. When something hurts, the pain receptors in our nervous system can become overreactive and an adjustment has been shown to decrease the hypersensitivity of pain receptors, meaning it can block pain. For example, when we injure our shoulder we rub it until the pain goes away. Well, an adjustment does the same thing but with a longer lasting effect.  An adjustment can also improve joint motion. Over time, if we don’t use the full range of motion of our joints or if we injure ourselves, we develop movement compensations and tightness, spasms, or “guarding” of the tissues around a joint. This causes poor joint motion and an adjustment will improve the range of motion of the joint and cause relaxation of the muscles around the area, which will also decrease joint compression.

A majority of chiropractors only adjust joints of the spine, but at Pro Spine and Sport, we are highly trained to not only adjust the spinal joints, but also the joints of the extremities (ankle, knee, foot, hip, wrist, elbow, shoulder). We use a variety of techniques, but heavily favor diversified technique.