After heavy, steady pressure downward, force is delivered with a quick, throwing movement, most force on the posterior side.
THE “SPREAD” MOVE
Upon the theory that when two forces are simultaneously applied, the one to drive some vertebra cephalad (by its spinous process) and the other to drive some lower vertebra caudad, the intervening vertebrae tend, if anterior, to be drawn outward or toward a more posterior position, this move is predicated.
The author does not believe that it accomplishes its purpose, but will briefly describe it for the benefit of those who do.
Position
Patient is placed over a roll which rests under the thighs so as to flex thighs and pelvis on the Lumbar spine, or an adjustable table is so tilted, both sections sloping downward from the middle, as to accomplish the same result.
Contact
The usual method, if only a single vertebra is anterior, is to make contact with the vertebrae immediately adjacent, crossing the hands and having fingers of upper hand pointing toward head and of lower hand toward Sacrum. But some adjusters use this move differently, making contact with Sacrum and with the mid-dorsal region in general and applying a slow force with both hands. Contact is with heel of hand upon spinous process.
SACRAL ADJUSTMENTS
The adjustment of the comparatively fixed sacrum is difficult at best and requires a very considerable force, violently applied. It is probable that nine-tenths of all attempts to move sacra fail. In children, when sacrum does not articulate properly with the ilia, and in adults in whom the sacrum has been loosened by trauma and remains in an abnormal relation to surrounding structures, it can be moved.