Technic and Practice of Chiropractic

by Joy Maxwell Loban

If disagreements appear between palpation made in positions A and C, re-palpate in both positions. If still uncertain call a consultation or follow finding in position A. The Rotary adjustment may sometimes aid in deciding difficult questions if gently attempted and free movement secured. With this adjustment a vertebra will not usually move without rather extreme force unless the articular process on the side sought to be moved has lost its apposition with its fellow of the adjacent vertebra. In any case of disagreement nerve-tracing, the discovery of sensitive nerves on one side only may aid in decision. A knowledge of probabilities, previous experience, and the diagnosis may also serve as partial guides.

TRANSVERSE PALPATION

Palpation of the transverse processes is easiest in the Cervical and mid-dorsal regions and most difficult in upper Dorsal and Lumbar regions. It has two uses: first, to assist in making a record by verifying the work done on the spinous processes; second, to locate a given transverse process in order to use it as a lever for the adjustment of the vertebra.

It will be seen that fulfillment of the first purpose requires careful examination of the direction and position of the transverses as compared with each other and with the spinous process of the same vertebra, while the second requires only the discovery of the exact location of some particular transverse. It will be best to consider the three divisions of the spine separately, excluding from the present chapter Atlas palpation, which has been thoroughly described.

Cervicals

These can be best palpated in the position for Atlas palpation; that is, standing behind the patient and using the palmar surfaces of the fingers of both hands. From the Atlas transverses follow the anterior border of the sternomastoid muscle downward, and opposite each spinous process draw the muscles backward and inward until the tips of the transverses are found with the middle fingers. Their position on the two sides may then be easily compared as well as their relation to those above and below them.

Fig. 4. Locative palpation of Dorsal transverse processes.

The transverses of the second Cervical may sometimes be so prominent laterally that they are, or one of them is, mistaken for an Atlas transverse. As a rule, however, the width of the Cervicals increases from the second downward, the second being narrowest. Chassaignac’s tubercle, on the transverse process of the sixth Cervical and opposite the lower border of the cricoid cartilage, is a prominent point easily felt as a rule. The transverses of the fourth are usually opposite the upper border of the thyroid cartilage.

The Cervical transverses lie very close to the articular processes and the determination of their relation is a better guide to the condition of the articulation than is spinous process palpation. It is also more difficult.