Have you ever been at your Chiropractic Center and your Chiropractor makes a comment that you’re holding your chiropractic adjustment? You have no idea what that means, but it sounds good so you go along with the statement and smile.

Before we dive into what holding the adjustment is and why it’s a good thing, let’s quickly review what your Chiropractor is referring to.

The Chiropractor’s objective is to locate, analyze and facilitate the correction of areas within your spine that are out of relationship with each other and causing interference in the important messages being carried through the neurological system. These specific displacements in the bones on the nerves are called vertebral subluxation.

One way of looking at vertebral subluxation is comparing it to a short circuit.

Vertebral subluxation is similar to short circuits in that they create malfunction or resistance within the neurological connection. Vertebral subluxation is when one of your vertebrae loses its proper alignment and interferes with the life energy that is being carried through the nerve from brain to body. The correction of vertebral subluxation is accomplished through a chiropractic adjustment, similar to switching the short circuit back open. 

The chiropractor locates, analyzes and assists the vertebrae into normal alignment with gentle pressure in a specific line of drive. Chiropractic adjustments open up the circuit between the brain and body by creating less interference in the neurology, allowing normal function to occur throughout the body due to adequate nerve supply. 

Adjustments may feel similar from visit to visit at your Chiropractor’s Center, but the actual identity of the specific vertebral subluxation and whether or not the current visit requires the same adjustment can easily be distinguished by your Chiropractor.

Along with the criteria for malpositioning of the vertebrae compared to the one above or below, or both, the definition of subluxation requires there to be interference with the transmission of mental impulses.

Interference with transmission of mental impulses through the neurological system makes the subluxation a negative functional detriment to the body’s well-being.

The Chiropractic Adjustment facilitates restoration for proper relationship within the spinal joints, but not all adjustments last as long as the next.

The lasting effects from the adjustment is the definition of holding the adjustment. The restoration that results from the adjustment creates a state of cohesion within the physiology.

R.W. Stephens discusses the act of holding the adjustment in his Chiropractic Textbook by looking at the restoration through the lens of unity and cohesion:

“Cohesion is the holding together of the parts. To have cohesion, it is necessary to have unity….If there is interference with Innate’s forces, there is lack of adaptation; lack of adaptation means that Universal Forces will work uncontrolled. Uncontrolled Universal Forces injure tissue cells or make them act incoordinately. Incoordination results in unsound tissue—hence dis-ease.”- R.W. Stephenson

Cohesion after the adjustment is a state of condition and that state is what the Chiropractor is referring to in regards to Holding the Adjustment.

Factors that contribute to holding the adjustment depends upon on how long subluxation has been present, how long you’ve been receiving Chiropractic Adjustments and what your overall state of well-being is. 

Interference to mental/neurological impulses can and is asymptomatic and choosing to visit your chiropractor on a proactive basis based on stress levels will support the ability to hold the adjustment longer!  

Holding the adjustment promotes better structure within your spine which promotes better function within the neurological system which promotes a state of unity within your physiology..

Well-being can be considered a fundamental principle rather than a fundamental pursuit, but the consistent striving for it allows cohesion to the principle to manifest.