The adjustment is gentle and highly specific. Films are taken and analyzed to determine where exactly the misalignment is taking place. The AO doc will then determine the angle at which the head and adjusting piece need to be in order to get a specific, painless adjustment of the atlas.

The patient relaxes on the adjusting table with her head propped on the adjusting board. The chiropractor makes sure that the angle is just so, and then applies a gentle, low-force adjustment (a pulse, really) to the side of her head. The positioning of the head minimizes the amount of force needed to nudge the atlas into place, and the patient typically hears, but does not feel, the adjustment.

A bit of history

The atlas orthogonal technique was first researched and studied by Dr. BJ Palmer in the early 20^th century. Palmer researched the human body thoroughly, and eventually came to believe that the atlas bone was the key to chiropractic health. Dr. John Grostic took Palmer’s insight about the atlas adjustment, and spent his life furthering the research. Toward the end of Grostic’s career, he selected the promising young chiropractor Dr. Roy Sweat to work under him. After Grostic’s death, Sweat continued Grostic’s work, and in many ways eclipsed it. Part of Sweat’s pioneering research included designing an atlas-specific table designed to make the adjustment more precise using less force. The Sweat Institute table was brought to fruition with the help of engineers at Georgia Tech University—it is highly advanced and looks a bit like a space machine!

The Atlas Adjustment and Your Health

Patients are often surprised to learn how much of the body—including the entirety of the spinal cord, and multifarious body systems—is affected by atlas misalignment. Having a healthy atlas and cervical spine often makes a crucial difference to a patient’s overall health and wellness. Afflictions as seemingly unrelated to cervical spine and atlas health, as poor digestion, carpal tunnel syndrome, diabetes, respiratory illness, and irregular blood pressure often clear up after cervical and atlas care.

This has mainly to do with the location of the atlas and cervical spine, which, due to proximity to the brain and brain stem, is very neurologically rich. Almost all of the primary nerves for the body flow through the area, and are very sensitive to pressure and trauma. The connection between this area and the vestibular, the connection to the muscular system, and access to the thalamus above the third vertebra are direct. Though there are other inputs from the body to the thalamus, the number of receptors are greater in number in the upper cervical area. The area is also a center for the reception and input for controlling various activities, including pain regulation.

Atlas alignment unquestionably improves the functionality of the entirety of the body—and a healthy body unquestionably improves mental and emotional states. A misaligned atlas affects the body in far-reaching ways: often, divergence between leg lengths can be pinpointed to the atlas all the way up the spinal cord! Of course, walking around with mismatched leg lengths further strains the spinal cord and surrounding systems, and creates a kind of feedback loop of discomfort and subluxation.

More obviously, perhaps, atlas alignment has been shown again and again to decrease or completely erase chronic headaches and migraines. For people suffering from migraine and headache, this is no small matter, as overall quality of life is dramatically improved when the fear of being subject to an attack is alleviated.