Fix24 Chiropractic Practices Gonstead Method As Pain Relief

The human body is an amalgam of intricate mechanical and biological processes. From the millions of living organisms residing inside it, to the skeletal system’s movement, a simple misalignment can throw the body off its normal routine, creating pain or illness.

“Anything that is mechanical has to be maintained,” says Dr. Michael Robb, owner of two Fix24 chiropractic clinics in Arizona.

Robb is one of 15 Arizona chiropractors practicing the Gonstead technique, which utilizes bio-mechanical principles to isolate spinal misalignment and quantitatively measure healing.

The highest cause for mechanical misalignment in the lower back is bending at the waist, Robb says, and prolonged looking down with the head can create neck problems.

The Gonstead method attacks these troubles using objective measurements gathered with weight-bearing, standing X-rays and a heat sensor to discover inflammation.

“By scanning the spine with a heat-sensing probe, we can see where the differential temperatures are, and it shows us how much inflammation is in the joint,” Robb says. “As we’re realigning the joint, we measure by taking subsequent temperature readings over the spine to see the reduction of heat, which indicates the restoration of the mechanical misalignment.”

Realigning the spine is done by hand without twisting. Contorting into often painful positions by twisting the back and neck is the most common thing people do not like about chiropractors, Robb says. Instead, the Gonstead process applies pressure directly to the spine, pushing forwards towards the sternum.

The healing process takes between 90 and 120 days. After the realignment is complete, patients are given yoga-like exercises to strengthen and stretch targeted muscle groups.

The Gonstead system was developed by Clarence Gonstead in the late 1930s. The idea of harnessing bio-mechanical principles sparked after he received chiropractic care for foot and leg pains, but his body was resistant to healing under the standard chiropractic contortions.

Alongside specific Gonstead chiropractic structures, Robb’s Phoenix and Peoria chiropractic centers provide pain relief for headaches, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and foot injuries, arthritis, sciatica, and disc and joint problems.