Using the Activator Technique

Ever since the dawn of man, people have been suffering from back pain and other types of body pains. Some forms of treatment were tried in ancient times and proven successful while others not so much. Some these successful treatments, such as the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture survive to this day while the unsuccessful treatment styles have gone out of existence altogether. Today, people are more informed about the types of ways individuals can develop the all-too-common back pain, the possible steps they can take in reducing the chances of developing back pain (and any form of pain anywhere in the body for that matter), and the methods modern chiropractors use in treating patients with acute ( pain that comes on very quickly and goes ways within days to several weeks) and chronic (long-lasting, constant, sharp pain) if they have ever been to a chiropractor before complain of back pain.

Most people, in their lifetime, will develop some form of back pain, either acute or chronic. Unfortunately, many will never take the preventable steps to lead them towards a happier, healthier path that will help them never to experience the, sometimes, excruciating pain when back pain strikes. As students many people will sit in desks in an unnatural position, such as one leg crossed over the other while listening to their instructors or doing homework which makes curve, or another way people can develop back pain later in life is by standing in unnatural position like constantly standing or leaning on one foot more than the other thereby putting pressure on the back and the leg that is constantly being stood on. Over time and if it is done over long periods of time, everyday it will result in a condition known as scoliosis that could lead to back problems (pain included) in the long-run. Other conditions that may result in back pains are arthritis and pregnancy because the woman has to carry her unborn child ,who is growing and getting heavier everyday, for nine months putting a huge strain on the mother’s back. Furthermore, an injury like fall from a high standing point could result in life-long injury and back pain if not paralysis. A real world example of this would be when a man climbed a 20-ft ladder to reach his roof and fix a broken tile. Without realizing where he was stepping he slipped and fell back twenty feet to the ground. If he survives the fall he will, most definitely, experience excruciating, long-lasting back pain from the injury inflicted to himself.

Fortunately, people can take simple measures to prevent back pain in the future. Exercising on a consistent basis is a good step in the right direction which not everyone does because of their unwillingness to beat laziness and making up ‘excuses’. Exercises also allow for an individual to maintain a healthy body weight or lose weight in the process that puts less strain on your back and prevents back pain in the long—run.

If you do end up with severe back pain that needs the attention of a professional your chiropractor will possibly use one of three commonly used treatment styles in the field. These are the activator technique, control reflex analysis, or the spinal manipulation technique.

The most common and widely-used among chiropractors today is the activator technique. It was invented by Arlan Fuhr and uses an instrument that provides low-pressure to the back and spine as an alternative to the chiropractor doing it manually (with his hands). This technique involves the patient to lie down with outstretched arms and legs. The chiropractor, then, advises the patient to move his or her arms to see how the muscles will react to the stimulus. If the chiropractor sees that the patient’s leg lengths change in accordance with to the movements of the arms then it is a sign that there is an issue pertaining to the spine. Some studies done on the subject claim that this type of chiropractic treatment is fairly effective, although, in general, the results of this treatment cannot be brought to direct conclusion since results vary among individuals and most of the world’s population have differing arm and leg lengths.

The next most commonly used chiropractic care is called the Contact Reflex Analysis (CRA). It is composed of two programs going hand-in-hand to create a specialized plan for each patient. Derived from the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture that is thousands of years old, CRA uses similar methods of testing the body’s reflex points but without the needles used in pure acupuncture. This was first part of the combination two part program-the analysis of the patient. The second component in this kind of treatment plan is the health-nutritional program that helps improve the patient’s health as a whole on addition to regular exercise. This specialized program is specifically-designed to correct the imbalanced points along the body or get enough nutrients to allow for the points to be corrected.

Spinal manipulation is the last most commonly used among the chiropractic community that has been shown to have the most effective method of relieving back pain. It starts off with the patient lying on his or her stomach while a licensed chiropractor massages the patient’s back, cracking some areas placing the spinal discs in their places.

So, as you can see there are multiple good ways to prevent back pain in the future, but there are three widely-used techniques in the chiropractic community that doctor most likely use on you if you do end up with back pains. These are the Activator’s Technique which a substitute for manually massaging the affected area and uses a special instrument to do the job, Contact Reflex Analysis that used a two-system program that allows the patient to get better on his or her own, and the Spinal Manipulation that requires a chiropractor to massages and crack the back in certain areas.