SACROILIAC JOINT TREATMENT

THOMPSON TECHNIQUE

Sacroiliac joint treatment was redefined by Dr Clay Thompson. A violinist at school, he worked in a machine shop to earn a few dollars, gaining valuable mechanical experience. Unable to make a living from his music during the American Depression, Clay started working in an experimental agricultural equipment company while taking engineering courses. After a serious injury he was greatly helped by a chiropractor, and entered Palmer Chiropractic College. Starting in practice with an old table with a worn screw mechanism, he was surprised when relative affluence enabled him to buy a new solid table, but his patients scorned the new table, preferring rather the old table that �gave� as he adjusted them, leading him eventually to design a state of the art sacro-iliac joint treatment table.

An inventor at heart, this 'giving' by the table started Thompson thinking. In 1954 he finalized production of the first �drop� headpiece and ultimately collaborated with the Williams Healthcare company to build an adjusting table specialised in sacro-iliac joint treatment, with a pneumatically driven, segmented drop system, which quickly lowers the section of the patient�s body corresponding with the spinal region being adjusted. The doctor thrusts at high speed, using minimal force because, while the thrust initiates the movement, the sudden drop helps to effect the adjustment of the fixated sacroiliac joint.

Leg length checks, palpation, X-rays and other appropriate orthopaedic tests are used by the Thompson practitioner in determining what to adjust.

Sacroiliac joint treatment enthusiasts often acclaim the 'THOMPSON' Adjusting Table as the finest adjusting table in the world.

Self-confessed batty chiropractor Bernard Preston writes delightful stories described as "Gems, both funny and healthful, from the life and work of a Chiropractor." You will find several stories about the sacro-iliac patient. For more information about Bats in my Belfry, click here.

ACTIVATOR TECHNIQUE
Sacroiliac joint treatment was further refined by Arlan Fuhr and W.C. Lee who developed the Activator technique. Initially, the doctors used thumb thrusts, delivered at rapid rates of speed generated by elbow movement. They developed the Activator instrument to reduce the injuries to doctors� hands, and to ensure consistency of the adjustment. The instrument was patented in 1984 for use in the chiropractic adjustment to give consistent low-force, high-speed chiropractic adjustments to the sacro-iliac and other joints.
Sacroiliac joint adjusting using the spring-loaded instrument gives a specific line of drive and can be set to deliver force ranging from 9 - 33 pounds per square inch. Before an adjustment is administered, leg length checks and specific tests of joint motion are performed to identify the joints that require an adjustment.
Over 35,000 chiropractors have been trained in activator technique making it the most widely used sacroiliac technique worldwide.

DIVERSIFIED TECHNIQUE

This is the classic chiropractic technique, initially developed by D.D. Palmer, the founder of Chiropractic. The focus is on restoration of normal biomechanical function, and the correction of subluxated or fixated joints. Diversified adjusting of the spine uses specific lines of drives for all manual thrusts, allowing for specificity in correcting mechanical distortions of the spine and sacroiliac joint treatment.
GONSTEAD TECHNIQUE
Sacroiliac joint treatment and the name Clarence Gonstead go hand in hand. He is the chiropractor often accredited with taking adjusting from crude and rudimentary bone setting to an understandable and logical bio-mechanical science.
Growing up a rural farm provided young Gonstead with plenty of opportunities to explore the mechanical world, like Thompson before him, developing an enthusiasm for repairing tractors and early automobiles.
As a young adult he developed acute rheumatoid arthritis. Finally, after about two weeks in bed, unable to stand or walk of even have the bedcovers touch his knee and foot, whilst under the care of the University doctors, he was greatly helped by a chiropractor who came to the house to care for Gonstead. After a series of adjustments of his sacroiliac joints and rest, he could walk again. It was a life-changing event for Gonstead, and ultimately he became one of the icons of sacro-iliac joint adjusting.
SIJ adjusting was neglected in the BJ Palmer era during which chiropractic drifted into an era of adjusting the upper neck only. Although perhaps not his intent, Gonstead redefined the very nature of chiropractic, in particular refining sacroiliac joint treatment.

SIJ ADJUSTING SUMMARY
Sacroiliac joint conditions respond to all of these techniques. Each have their own particular merit for adjusting the pelvis and most chiropractors will choose one or other sacro-iliac joint treatment that best suits the patient's condition.
Aside: Trolling the net you will find various people promising to train you in how to adjust the spine in a week, or a few weeks. I have spent nearly 30 years practising the art of manipulation, and I still find every back unique, and many backs a challenge. The thought of some quack teaching lay-people to do what is extremely complex, one of the real art forms, makes me feel not a little sick. After all, can you learn to bake a decent loaf of bread in a week?

Return from the SACROILIAC JOINT TREATMENT page to the the SIJ HOME page