Boca Raton resident Caridad Schaeffer was 6 years old when she began having migraine headaches. For years, she endured the pressure, pain, throbbing and dizziness associated with severe migraines. She once had a headache that lasted 10 days.

Prone to blackouts, Schaeffer was spending more time on her couch than she was at her job at Luxury Finishes Inc., where she worked as an artist specializing in decorative wall and ceiling finishes.

"I couldn't climb up scaffolding with a migraine," she said. "Sometimes they were so bad I felt like I was going to vomit. I would do everything in my power not to do so. It runs your life, and I describe myself as someone with a high pain tolerance."

Three years ago, Schaeffer visited Dr. Ryan Alter, a Delray Beach chiropractor, seeking relief from the pain. Alter is a practitioner of the Atlas Orthogonal technique, which uses vibrations to treat patients, bypassing old techniques such as forced manipulation.

The treatments require a series of X-rays, which serve as blueprints of a patient's structure. Alter measures angles and makes note of the size and length of the patient's body parts. The calculations are performed both before and after procedures.

If a patient is complaining of mild pain and the measurements are only slightly off, Alter makes minor adjustments using machines built especially for Atlas Orthogonal treatment. However, if a patient has had a serious injury or ailment, he takes a new set of X-rays, analyzes those measurements and makes necessary adjustments.

"If it's aligned, we don't over-adjust," he said. "We take the pressure off by properly realigning. The goal is to not need adjustments. We're checking for misalignment, to increase blood flow."

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