Christopher Michlin, D.C.
Back to Health Family Chiropractic
101 S. Jennings Ave., Suite 201
Fort Worth, TX 76104
817-810-9111
http://www.backtohealthtexas.com/
Transcript: How the Atlas Orthogonal adjusting instrument works
The Atlas Orthogonal precision adjusting instrument was invented by Roy W. Sweat in 1981. It was based on physics. Essentially the atlas is a three ounce bone that’s sitting under a seven to twelve pound weight and it needs to be able to easily be moved in a direction that is appropriate taking pressure off the brainstem and off the vertebral arteries.
Now the way it works is much like shooting pool. If you’ve ever played pool and you’ve seen a cue ball on one end of the table and two balls that are touching each other on the other end of the table, when the cue ball comes down and hits the first ball, the first ball doesn’t move. The second ball takes the energy and goes. If it’s properly aligned, it will go straight into the pocket.
Now the Atlas Orthogonal adjusting instrument works in very much the same way. There’s a weight inside this canister that’s a six pound weight. It hits the end of the stylist and the stylist does not move. But what it does is it sends a vibration into the atlas. Now in order to make sure that we get that precise adjustment, the first thing we do is we place the head on top of this head piece which essentially removes that weight from the atlas. Now the atlas can move. It’s in a capsule that gives it the co-efficient of friction of a piece of ice sliding across another piece of ice or in other words it moves very easily. We also do very specific vectors. That’s why we take the films that we do. And then you can see there is a protractor and there’s another protractor right here. And we actually can adjust the instrument so that we get the exact vectors appropriate for your adjustment.
When we give the adjustment, you’ll be laying on your side. We’ll actually pull this up right behind the ear.
And it reminds me of a story. People have looked at this instrument and thought maybe it looks a little bit scary. But you know I had a five year old sitting on a table that I was showing this instrument to when I was in Dr. Sweat’s office. And he came in and I had him put his hand right here on the stylist so that when I used the mechanism, he actually jumped back. He said “Oh that tickled”.
It’s a very gentle process and very easy for the patient. So, basically in a nutshell that’s how Atlas Orthogonal chiropractic the mechanism of the adjustment works.