Hand-held unit helps determine if vertebrae are properly alignedPublished: 2010-06-14 10:55:49Author: Nancy Hastings | mlive.com | March 10, 2010Troy Burk has been treating sore backs for 13 years, but he's not
ashamed to say that a machine can sense more than his hands can feel.
The
Brooklyn chiropractor uses a hand-held device called a ProAdjuster to
determine if spinal vertebrae are properly aligned.
Burk is the only chiropractor in Jackson County to use the device, which
links to a computer. He said the ProAdjuster uses the same type of
technology that allows engineers to determine points of weakness and
stress on spacecraft.
"It's definitely a jump in technology," he
said. "It's a wave of things to come."
Burk, a 1997 graduate of
Logan College of Chiropractic in Missouri, has been practicing in
Brooklyn for seven years. He's been using the ProAdjuster daily in his
office since April.
Instead of solely using the doctor's hand
and judgment to find which vertebrae are stiff or rigid, the device
measures levels of function. It can help the chiropractor isolate a
problem faster and more accurately than manual procedures.
"The
biggest thing is it senses joints not moving, ones that are fixated,
where just pushing with a thumb feels muscle through that," Burk said.
"ACA
does not directly endorse this specific product and we cannot directly
endorse any specific practitioner or chiropractic treatment technique or
method for any given patient," the American Chiropractic Association
said of the ProAdjuster.
Burk said he uses traditional treatments
for those who prefer and combines these treatments with the ProAdjuster
for others. He uses the ProAdjuster for about 95 percent of his
patients.
Not only is the ProAdjuster comfortable, it is
consistent because it is computerized, he said.
"And patients
like it because it's able to show results and reanalyze," he said.
"I've
had several surgeries and procedures done to my back," Holly Witte, a
patient, said. "This is the only way I've been able to have my
adjustments done because there is so little pain."
Jeannie
Breternitz, clinical manager for Burk's practice, said patients tell
Burk how they feel better, have less pain and can perform activities
they haven't been able to do.
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