Manual Diversified Adjustments

Manual Diversified Adjustments is the most commonly used and taught chiropractic techniques, as well as the technique most familiar to patients. As the name implies, the Manual Diversified Adjustment technique can be used to adjust many of the joints in the body and is delivered by hand without any instruments. The goal of diversified adjustment is to restore proper movement and alignment of a patient’s spine or joints.

The diversified adjustment entails a high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust that typically results in the cavitation of a joint (quick, shallow thrusts that cause the popping/cracking noise most patients associate with chiropractic manipulation/adjustment). This popping/cracking noise is caused by a sudden decrease in intracapsular pressure causing the dissolved gasses in the patient’s synovial fluid to be released into the joint cavity. Once a joint undergoes cavitation, the force-displacement curve changes and the range of motion of the joint increases.