Manual adjusting
Hand adjusting, the way it's been done since 2000
A small force delivered by hand, directed at the exact angle of the joint. Three doctors in New Castle, each trained in a different technique, so the one that fits your body is the one you get.
Chapter 01
Eight techniques, one goal: the angle of the joint
Manual adjustments or manipulations involve delivering a small force directed at the angle of the joint to improve the motion it has lost. That single line covers a wide range of hands-on work, and Mahle Chiropractic's three doctors between them offer eight named manual techniques: Gonstead, Diversified, Thompson Drop, Flexion-Distraction, Palmer Technique, Cranial Technique for infants or children, Sacro-Occipital Technique, and Pelvic Blocking.
Each one is a different way of reaching the same joint. Gonstead and Diversified are the techniques most people picture when they think of a chiropractic adjustment, a direct hands-on correction at a specific segment of the spine. Thompson Drop uses a table with segments that drop slightly under the doctor's hands, which lowers the force needed to move the joint. Flexion-Distraction and Sacro-Occipital and Pelvic Blocking work the low back and pelvis from a gentler angle, and Palmer Technique is the classic hand delivery the profession itself is named for.
Cranial Technique for infants or children is its own category, sized down for a body that is nothing like an adult spine. None of this is guesswork at the appointment. Which technique gets used on which visit is a decision the doctor makes in the room, not a menu a patient picks from ahead of time.
An empty adjustment table in a treatment room at Mahle Chiropractic, with a terracotta wall and a window behind it.
What a small force at the right angle actually restores
The phrase worth sitting with is "the angle of the joint." A joint that has lost motion has not necessarily lost strength or structure, it has lost the specific direction it used to move in. Manual adjusting is built around finding that direction and delivering a small, precise force along it rather than a general push at the area.
That is why the same complaint in two different patients in Lawrence County can get two different techniques. A stiff low back on one person might respond to Flexion-Distraction, and the same complaint on someone else might call for Gonstead or Diversified. The force stays small either way. What changes is the angle and the table it's delivered from.
Chapter 03
Who gets hands instead of the instrument
Mahle Chiropractic also offers computerized, instrument-style adjusting with Sigma Instruments, and a fair number of visits use both in the same appointment. Which one leads is a conversation in the room, not a fixed rule. A joint that's tender to the touch, a patient who's nervous about a manual adjustment, or a very young or very old patient are all reasons a doctor might reach for the instrument first, or lean on Cranial Technique instead of a full manual correction.
Other patients specifically ask for hands. Some joints, and some people, simply respond better to a doctor's hands finding the angle directly. That's a call made together, appointment by appointment, by whichever of the three doctors is in the room with you, not something decided in advance for a whole category of patient.
Same day, right off Decker Dr
Mahle Chiropractic has been adjusting patients by hand at 101 Decker Dr in New Castle since 2000, and same day appointments are available for anyone in Lawrence County who needs to get on the table this week rather than next month. Call (724) 656-9050 and ask for whichever doctor you've seen before, or ask the front desk which technique fits what you're dealing with.
Spanish speaking representatives are available for patients who'd rather book and check in that way, and the same $30 in-season rate that covers a student athlete's adjustment and therapy applies here too, with a parent or guardian along for the first visit.
Mahle Chiropractic — Accredited with an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Call (724) 656-9050.