Most people don’t book a chiropractic visit just because. Maybe it was a small accident—you felt fine at first, then two weeks later your neck won’t turn without a tug. Maybe it’s a string of long laptop days and on Friday your mid-back is barking by lunch. Or a few weeks after having a baby, your hips and tailbone ache every time you sit to feed. You try heat, a new pillow, a stretch video. It helps for a day or two, then the pain circles back. That’s a pattern, and that’s what we look for first in chiropractic care.

Whether it’s post-accident or months of laptop posture, your body adapts over time by guarding and compensating. Then you end up with sticky joints or muscles, and maybe an overactive nervous system. The guarding feels like stiffness that makes you move in blocks instead of fluidly, and compensation shows up as other areas doing extra work.

What Chiropractic Does

We restore motion where it’s missing and calm irritation where it’s excessive. More concretely: we help a joint glide again so nearby muscles don’t have to grip as tight anymore. We reduce pressure on the irritated nerves so they stop firing “danger” signals over your everyday movements. We also rebalance how your body coordinates tasks like turning the head, breathing deeply, and walking. We aim to release the root causes of guarding and compensation through chiropractic care.

How Applied Kinesiology Helps Us Be Specific

With light muscle testing, we check how your body stabilizes when we ask certain areas to participate, such as the neck, jaw, diaphragm, and feet. If a test fails, it points us toward the next best adjustment or soft-tissue contact. It also tells us which simple home supports matter for you—maybe a one-minute breathing drill so your ribs and neck stop competing, a jaw relaxer at night, or a small nutrition tweak when inflammation is part of the picture.

After An Accident

You might feel okay right away because adrenaline and swelling mask what’s going on. Then the stiffness settles in: turning your head to check a blind spot takes your whole upper body or a deep breath catches against a stubborn rib. Chiropractic care starts gently, restoring easy neck rotation and rib motion, so you can back out of a parking spot without bracing and take a full breath without a pinch.

Desk Work and Device Posture

Long sessions at the desk pull the head forward and lock the upper back. The jaw pitches in and by late afternoon, your forearms and between-the-shoulder-blade area feel hot and tired. We aim to free up the mid-back segments, unload the base of the skull, and give the diaphragm room to move. People usually describe it as feeling “taller,” but really it’s stacking (head over ribs, ribs over pelvis) so muscles can do less, better, and the ache stops cycling back so quickly.

Pregnancy and Postpartum

As hormones (including relaxin) make tissues more pliable, joints have more play. That can feel like pubic bone soreness when you roll in bed, or ribs that catch when you take a deep breath. Gentle adjustments and soft-tissue contacts help the pelvis, guide the ribcage to move without stabbing, and make everyday transitions like standing up, getting in and out of the car, and turning over at night feel doable. Postpartum, we work with your new movement patterns (nursing, carrying, less sleep) so your body can stabilize without constant gripping.

Before vs. After

Before: Everything feels a bit jerky. You try to turn your head and your shoulders jump in to help. Getting out of the car means bracing first. Sit too long and that little zing shows up. Nights are restless because you keep waking to get off a sore spot.

After: Movement feels connected and easy. You check your blind spot without dragging your whole torso along. Standing up is automatic and the zing settles down. You can take a deep breath that actually fills your ribs. You sleep through the night because your body isn’t nudging you awake.

That first visit is calm and collaborative. We talk through what you’re dealing with and what you need your body to do. We check movement, do a few quick AK tests to find the linchpins, and match the adjusting style to your comfort—manual or very low force if you’re sensitive or fresh from an injury. You might feel mild soreness for a day. Read our post here on what to expect during your first session.

Ready to feel your “after”?

Book with Dr. Gillian in Georgia ›
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Prefer to talk it through? Call 678-400-4299 and we’ll map the first steps together.