What Chiropractic Is—and What It Isn’t
- Dr. Jason Winkelmann
- Aug 21
- 6 min read
Introduction: Clearing Up the Confusion
Chiropractic care has been around for more than a century, but it’s often misunderstood. Some people picture “bone cracking,” others think of quick pain relief, and still others are unsure if it’s safe or scientific.
At True Health Centers in Arvada, we want to set the record straight. Chiropractic is a highly effective, evidence-based way to restore joint health, reduce pain, and improve function—but it’s also important to understand what it is not.
In this blog, we’ll explore how joints work, what a chiropractic adjustment really does, and why it may be the missing piece in your health plan.
Lesson in Joint Anatomy
A joint is where two bones meet, surrounded by, ligaments, tendons, muscles, and
sometimes a capsule filled with fluid. Healthy joints are designed to move freely while maintaining stability.
But when motion is lost—whether from poor posture, injury, or repetitive strain—your body compensates. Muscles tighten, biomechanics change, and nearby joints take on extra stress. This lack of proper motion is what chiropractors call a joint restriction.
What Is a Joint Restriction?
A joint restriction doesn’t mean your joint is “locked” or “out of place.” Instead, it means
the joint isn’t moving through its normal range of motion. Think of a stiff door hinge—it still works, but not as smoothly as it can.
Left uncorrected, joint restrictions can lead to:
Pain or stiffness in the joint
Muscle tightness and spasms around it
Stress and wear on neighboring joints
Poor posture and movement patterns
What Do Joint Restrictions Feel Like?
When a joint isn’t moving the way it should, your body lets you know in a variety of ways. You might not even realize it’s a joint restriction—it can feel like something else entirely:
Localized pain or stiffness – You may notice a dull ache, sharp pain, or just a “tight” feeling that doesn’t go away with stretching.
Radiating discomfort – Because nerves travel through and around restricted joints, you might feel tingling, numbness, or shooting pain in distant areas (for example, a restriction in the neck causing pain down the arm).
Muscle tightness or guarding – Muscles surrounding the restricted joint often spasm or stay tense as a protective response, which only worsens the problem.
Reduced mobility – A restricted joint can make it difficult to turn your head, bend forward, or move naturally without strain.
Compromised circulation – In some cases, restrictions reduce healthy blood flow, leading to fatigue, heaviness, or slower recovery in surrounding tissues.
Chronic tension headaches or fatigue – In the spine especially, nerve irritation from joint restrictions can trigger headaches, brain fog, and even affect sleep.
The key is that joint restrictions don’t just cause pain where they occur. They create a domino effect that can compromise nerves, muscles, and circulation well beyond the restricted area. That’s why chiropractic adjustments often bring relief in unexpected places—by restoring mobility, they also restore function to the systems depending on it.
How Do Joint Restrictions Form?
Joint restrictions can form instantly from an injury or they develop gradually from the way you move, sit, and use your body every day. Here are the most common causes:
Poor posture – Slouching at a desk or hunching over your phone places uneven stress on the spine, gradually reducing motion in certain joints.
Repetitive stress – Doing the same movement over and over, like swinging a golf club or typing. Often times tight muscles put uneven tension on these joints and cause restrictions to form.
Injury or trauma – Even a minor car accident, fall, or awkward twist can create stiffness as the body protects the injured area by tightening the muscles around the joint. Tight muscles put uneven tension on these joints and cause restrictions to form.
Sedentary lifestyle – Lack of regular movement allows joints to stiffen and connective tissues to shorten, setting the stage for restrictions.
Compensation patterns – If one area of the body is injured or weak, nearby joints may overwork to make up for it, leading to stress and limited mobility.
Over time, these restrictions become self-perpetuating: the less a joint moves, the more the surrounding muscles tighten, and the harder it becomes to restore full function. That’s where chiropractic adjustments come in—to break the cycle and restore healthy motion.
How an Adjustment Is Performed
All joints have an active range of motion (the range of motion you achieve by contracting
muscles), a passive range of motion (the additional range of motion achieved by putting additional pressure on the joint), and a paraphysiological space (the point where a joint can move passively beyond its normal range of motion, but before reaching the point of potential tissue damage).
A chiropractic adjustment is performed by bringing the targeted joint to the end of its passive range of motion and then performing a gentle thrust to bring the joint into the paraphysiological space.
At True Health Centers, adjustments are personalized. Some may be done with hands, others with a small handheld instrument, depending on what’s most effective and comfortable for you.
What the “Popping” or “Cracking” Noise Means
Sometimes a popping or cracking noise is made during an adjustment. This is called a cavitation and it is simply a gas bubble being released from the restricted joint. It’s not bones rubbing or breaking, and it doesn't even mean the adjustment worked or didn't work. It is mearly a side effect that some people experience while others don't. The main goal of the adjustment is to restore motion to the joint which is something your chiropractor feels for.
What an Adjustment Accomplishes
A properly delivered adjustment can:
Improve joint mobility
Reduce muscle tension
Decrease nerve irritation
Increase blood flow
Release endorphins and enkephalins which are your body't natural pain relieving substances which also improve mood
Restore balance and posture
Enhance athletic performance and flexibility
Over time, this translates into less pain, easier movement, and better overall function.
What Else Chiropractors Offer
While the adjustment is the preffered tool of the chiropractor, it is not their only tool. Chiropractors are experts in the muskuloskeletal system and have many tools to assess and treat a magnitude of pain and movement disorders. Sometime adjustments are not appropriate or preferred. In such cases, mobilizations, soft tissue therapies, rehab exercises, or other modalities such as cold laser therapy are utilized.
What Chiropractic Will Not Do
It’s important to be clear about the limits of chiropractic as it is not the snake oil it can be touted as :
A chiropractor is a great addition to anyone's healthcare team, but they should not be the sole member.
Safety of Chiropractic Adjustments
One of the biggest myths is that chiropractic care is unsafe. In reality, when performed by a trained and licensed chiropractor, adjustments are extremely safe. Research consistently shows you’re far more likely to be injured driving to your appointment than during the adjustment itself.
That said, like any healthcare procedure, chiropractic care must be applied responsibly. The rare cases where people have been injured — such as with a cervical artery dissection (a tear in one of the arteries of the neck) — are not caused by the adjustment itself, but rather by a failure to properly identify underlying risk factors beforehand. Cervical arterial dissections typically occur from trauma such as whiplash or vascular disease. If these risk factors are not screened for, a patient may experience complications regardless of chiropractic care.
At True Health Centers, patient safety is our top priority. That’s why we never rush into treatment. Every patient receives a thorough consultation, complete history, and physical examination before any adjustment is considered. This allows us to rule out red flags, identify contraindications, and ensure that chiropractic is both safe and appropriate for you.
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Every adjustment is customized to your specific condition and body. When chiropractic injuries do occur in the profession, they almost always stem from practitioners who skipped this critical step of history-taking and physical examination. We take the opposite approach — methodical, cautious, and personalized.
The result is care that is both effective and safe, helping you get relief and restore movement with confidence.
What Chiropractic Helps Most
Chiropractic care can be especially effective for:
Back and neck pain
Headaches and migraines
Sciatica and nerve pain
Sports injuries
Joint stiffness and muscle tightness
When combined with other services at True Health Centers—such as medical massage, physical therapy, dry needling, and naturopathic medicine—chiropractic becomes part of a whole-body solution for lasting relief.
Ask the Doctor: Should I Try Chiropractic?
You don't have to be in pain to benefit from chiropractic treatments. Often times, people suffer from joint restrictions and don't even know it. If you have been suffering from chronic joint restrictions you may not even realize how bad things have gotten or how good you can feel once those restrictions are removed. While chiropractic is not the end all be all therapy many tout it as, it may be the missing piece to a full injury recovery or living your best life. Here is a great example of how chiropractic fits into everyday problems.
Comments