Atlas Orthogonal

The goal of the Atlas Orthogonal treatment is to return the atlas to its 90 degree alignment with the spine. Since the atlas sits just under the skull, it is very difficult for chiropractors to make a proper adjustment with their hands. In addition, manual adjusting can result in variable thrust, angle, and speed, which can sometimes unintentionally be too much force for the delicate cervical muscles, ligaments, tendons, and vertebrae, especially if the patient has a history of degeneration, surgery, trauma or other sensitivity.

By using a precise and delicate instrument, it is possible to safely and gently adjust the atlas vertebra. For many patients, whose cervical vertebrae are very fragile, injured, or compromised, this may be the only avenue of relief and restoration of health, and it does not involve drugs or surgery!

To prepare for the treatment, the doctor examines the patient’s X-rays taken at the clinic and makes detailed measurements and calculations to be used when adjusting the patient’s atlas with the adjusting machine.

The doctor places the tip of the adjusting stylus just below the patient’s earlobe on the side of the neck. The adjusting instrument delivers a high-speed, very low impact pulse to the contact point on the skin which is just enough to gently adjust the atlas. A clicking sound can be heard, but the patient feels almost nothing. In that moment, the atlas adjustment is complete. During this session, the doctor also works on relaxing muscles and activating the rest of the spine with other gentle, healing modalities such as the Flexion-distraction technique, Activator methods, and Arthrostim.

From this adjustment of the atlas, the vertebrae of the spine will begin to align, like the links of a chain and allow the nervous system to flow freely and restore the body’s ability to heal itself and to thrive.

The process of bringing the spine back to its normal condition often requires the retraining of those muscles and ligaments which have become weakened and stretched over long periods of time. The retraining process begins with the first adjustment and generally requires a series of carefully planned treatments to fully achieve permanent correction.

If you are interested to see if you could benefit from this technique, give us a call or go to our website ( at https://www.alpharettafamilychiropractic.com) to make an appointment for a complimentary consultation.