I’m Dr. John Brockway. I’ve been doing chiropractic adjustments in the Denver area for over 15 years. And if you’ve never been adjusted before, I already know what you’re thinking.
What’s that popping sound? Is this going to hurt? What’s actually happening in there?
Fair questions. All of them. A chiropractic adjustment is a controlled, precise force applied to specific joints in your spine or extremities. The point is to restore normal movement, take pressure off the nervous system, and get things working the way they should. That’s the short version.
People come see me from Glendale, Denver, Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill, all over. Some have been hurting for years and finally decided to do something about it. Others noticed something was off and didn’t want to wait. Either way, we start the same place: a real evaluation before anything else.
What Does a Chiropractic Adjustment Actually Do?
When a joint stops moving right, a few things pile up fast. The joint gets restricted. The muscles around it tighten up trying to compensate. And your nervous system starts getting abnormal input from that area, which is often why the pain feels bigger than whatever you’d expect from the actual injury.
An adjustment works on all three of those problems at once.
- Mechanical: Gets the restricted joint moving again. That’s the foundation.
- Neurophysiological: Once the joint moves, the nervous system gets new input. Pain signals calm down. Nerve irritability drops.
- Reflexive: The muscles that were guarding and bracing start to let go.
Most patients notice less pain, better range of motion, and improved posture over time. Not always all at once. But that’s what we’re working toward.
If you’re curious about how spinal manipulation actually affects the nervous system, WebMD has a solid overview of what the research shows.
What Exactly Is Happening When Your Chiropractor “Cracks” Your Neck or Back?
This is probably the most common question I get. People hear the pop and want to know if something just broke.
Nothing broke. It’s gas.
Your joints are wrapped in a capsule filled with synovial fluid. That fluid has dissolved gases in it. When I apply a quick stretch to the joint, the pressure inside drops fast, and those gases bubble out. That’s the noise. It’s called cavitation. Normal, harmless, happens all the time.
A few other things are happening in that same split second:
- Muscle and ligament release: The surrounding muscles and tendons get a brief stretch. Tiny muscles that were locked up in spasm get a reset.
- Endorphin release: The rapid pressure drop triggers a release of your body’s natural pain-reducing compounds.
- Sound doesn’t equal success: Loud pop doesn’t mean it worked. Silent adjustments work just as well. I’m not chasing the noise.
Some of the techniques I use don’t make any sound at all. The goal is proper joint motion.
How Do You Know You Need a Chiropractic Adjustment?
Most people wait too long. They figure the pain isn’t bad enough yet. But by the time something really hurts, it’s usually been brewing for a while.
Here’s what I see in new patients all the time:
- Back or neck pain that rests but never fully goes away
- Morning stiffness, or that familiar tightening after sitting at a desk too long
- Headaches that start at the base of the skull and creep forward
- Trouble turning your head, bending, reaching overhead
- Sciatica or radiating pain down the arm or leg
- One shoulder sitting higher than the other, or a visible lean
- Muscle knots and tightness that keep returning no matter how much you stretch
- Same injury, same spot, keeps happening
When I do an evaluation, I’m not just asking where it hurts. I’m watching how you walk in. How you sit down. Where your posture breaks. Where there’s restriction. The location of pain often isn’t where the actual problem is, and that matters.
What to Expect at Your First Visit With Dr. Brockway
I’ll be straight with you: I often don’t adjust on the first visit. I’ve had patients come in expecting to get on the table right away, and they’re surprised when that’s not what happens. There’s a reason for it.
Your first appointment is about 30 minutes. We cover your health history, what’s going on, what makes it worse, what you’ve already tried. I do a physical exam: posture, range of motion, orthopedic and neurological testing as needed.
Then, for most new patients, I want imaging before I adjust. We refer out for X-rays. I want to know what your spine actually looks like before I put force into it. That’s not being overly cautious. It’s just how I practice. A film tells me things I can’t get from an exam alone.
If you’re in real pain at that first visit, I may do some soft tissue work to give you some relief while we wait on imaging. Muscle release, gentle mobilization. But a full adjustment typically comes at visit two or later.
Follow-up visits are shorter. Once we’re in active care, you’re usually in and out in 10 to 15 minutes. The adjustment itself takes maybe 5 to 10 minutes. Add more time if we’re doing soft tissue work or traction alongside it.
How Often Should You Get Adjusted?
Depends on you. What’s going on, how long it’s been going on, how your body responds. I don’t run everyone through the same protocol.
That said, most care follows a similar arc:
- Relief phase: When you’re in pain and we’re just starting, 2 to 3 visits a week for a few weeks. Goal is to calm things down, reduce inflammation, start correcting the underlying problem.
- Corrective phase: Once the pain backs off, we drop to once or twice a week. Now we’re working on restoring full function, not just chasing symptoms.
- Maintenance phase: A lot of patients stick around once a month or so. Keeps things from unwinding and catches problems before they become pain.
Why are the early visits so frequent? Muscle memory. Your spine has been sitting in a compensated position, sometimes for years. The muscles around it got used to that. If we only adjust once a week to start, those muscles just pull things back before the adjustment has a chance to hold. More frequent visits early on let the corrections stack.
We reassess as we go. Not improving the way I expect? We talk about it and change the plan.
How Do You Know If Chiropractic Is Working?
Pain is just one signal, and honestly not always the most useful one early on. Some patients feel worse for a bit before things improve. That’s real. Joints that haven’t moved right in years need time to adapt.
Here’s what I actually look at to track progress:
- Pain frequency and intensity: Not just “does it hurt” but are the bad days fewer? Is it less severe when it shows up? That direction of travel matters.
- Range of motion: Can you turn your head further this week than last? Bend over without bracing? Mobility changes often show up before pain scores do.
- Daily function: Putting shoes on without wincing. Getting through a workday. Sleeping a full night. These things matter more to most patients than a number on a pain scale.
- Sleep quality: Nerve pressure and muscle tension wreck sleep. When those resolve, patients often notice the sleep improvement before they even connect it to care.
Research shows roughly 60% of patients notice real relief after just the first visit. Another 30% or so need a few visits to feel the difference. If we’re several weeks in and nothing is shifting, I’d rather have that conversation than keep going in the wrong direction.
I also ask patients to track between visits. Pain level 1-10, what triggered it, how long the relief lasted after the last adjustment. That information actually shapes the plan.
What Are the Side Effects of a Chiropractic Adjustment?
Most people feel fine right after. Some feel better right away. But there are common reactions worth knowing about, especially in your first few visits.
Normal, temporary reactions in the 24 to 48 hours after an adjustment:
- Muscle soreness or stiffness: Most common by far. Your joints and soft tissues are adapting to new alignment. It’s similar to being sore after a workout you haven’t done in a while.
- Fatigue: Your nervous system just got reset. Some patients are wiped out for a bit, especially in early care. Normal.
- Mild headache: Usually short-lived. More common after neck adjustments as blood flow and nerve activity shift.
- Brief dizziness: Light-headedness that typically clears up quickly.
To get through these smoothly:
- Drink water: Adjustments release metabolic byproducts from soft tissues. Water helps flush them out. It also keeps your spinal discs hydrated, which matters for how they respond to the correction.
- Move gently: Short walks are good. They help joints settle into the new position without straining anything.
- Ice if you need it: 15 minutes on a sore area can take the edge off localized inflammation.
Soreness should be improving within a couple days, not getting worse. Anything that persists past 48 hours, I want to know about it.
How Risky Is a Chiropractic Adjustment?
I’m not going to wave this question off. You deserve a straight answer.
For most people, the risk is low. Mild temporary soreness is about as bad as it gets for the vast majority of patients. Serious complications are rare, estimated somewhere between 1 in tens of thousands to 1 in millions of visits, depending on the type of manipulation.
But rare doesn’t mean zero. Here’s what exists:
- Stroke from cervical artery dissection: The most talked-about risk with neck adjustments. The research on whether chiropractic manipulation actually causes this or whether it’s coincidental timing is genuinely debated. What’s not debated: it’s extremely uncommon. If you have vascular risk factors, that’s a conversation we have before I touch your neck.
- Worsened disc herniation: Manipulation could theoretically aggravate a herniation that’s already there. It’s one of the main reasons I want imaging first.
- Nerve irritation: Misdirected force can press on rather than relieve a nerve. Technique and patient selection matter a lot here.
My job before any adjustment is to make sure you’re a good candidate. Full health history, physical exam, imaging for most new patients. And if you’re not a good fit for high-velocity manipulation, there are gentler approaches that get similar results without the same forces.
When Should You NOT Get Adjusted? Know These Red Flags
| GET A MEDICAL EVALUATION BEFORE SEEING A CHIROPRACTOR IF YOU HAVE: Loss of bowel or bladder control, this is a possible Cauda Equina emergency, not a chiropractic situation Sudden weakness or loss of strength in an arm or leg Sudden numbness, tingling, or pins and needles Recent trauma (car accident, fall, injury) with no imaging yet Known severe osteoporosis Active bone infection, spinal tumor, or cancer involving the spine Spinal instability or recent surgical hardware in the spine Blood thinners combined with unexplained spinal symptoms Not sure if you qualify? Call us at 720-889-1659 before you book. I’d rather talk it through and send you somewhere else if needed than adjust someone who needs a different level of care first. |
Chiropractic Adjustment in Denver — Why Patients Choose Dr. Brockway
I’ve been in practice for over 15 years. In that time I’ve worked on patients ranging from high school athletes to people in their 80s who just want to keep moving. The approach changes depending on who’s in front of me.
Some patients need firm, high-velocity adjustments to get real movement in a stuck joint. Others, whether because of age, bone density concerns, or just a bad experience somewhere else, do a lot better with low-force techniques that get similar results without the same level of force. I adjust my approach to the patient, not the other way around.
We have a 5.00-star rating across 145 Google reviews. I’m proud of that, but what it actually reflects is pretty simple: people feel like they got a straight answer, a real plan, and someone who actually listened. That’s what I’m trying to do every day.
Adjustments address more than back and neck pain — cervical adjustments for headache and migraine relief is one of the most common reasons patients come in and one of the areas where we see strong results.
For patients dealing with spinal injuries from a crash, we also handle spinal adjustments following a motor vehicle accident as part of a structured post-accident care plan.
Hip and pelvic misalignment that contributes to chronic pain is another area where chiropractic adjustments can make a significant difference.
We’re at 425 S. Cherry St., Suite 307 in Glendale, right off I-25 and Colorado Blvd. Easy to get to from Denver, Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill, Highlands, Park Hill, Lakewood, and Aurora. Most major Colorado insurance plans accepted.
Hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 AM to 12:30 PM and 2:30 to 6:00 PM.
Call 720-889-1659 or book online at myglendalechiro.com. Let’s figure out what’s going on.