Do Chiropractic Adjustments Make You Taller?

Chiropractic adjustments can relieve pain, improve the bodies function, and enhance overall health. Patients often feel like they are taller following a spinal adjustment. Do chiropractic adjustments really make you taller?

While adult bodies don’t actually grow taller with chiropractic adjustments, it is possible to feel taller. If helps to understand what chiropractic adjustments do to learn how they can make you feel taller.

What Chiropractic Adjustments Do

Chiropractors treat patients by locating and correcting vertebral subluxations through gentle and specific chiropractic adjustments, allowing your body to function at its best. A subluxation is a misalignment of one or more of your spinal vertebrae, which cause interference or pressure to nerve structures such as, a nerve root or spinal cord. In these areas where the nervous system is interfered with, the body’s natural ability to heal itself is impaired.

A chiropractic adjustment is done by a gentle thrust delivered by hand or instrument. The purpose of the manipulation is to correct the spinal subluxations therefore stopping the nerve interference in your body. This realignment improves function, relieves pain, and improves posture.

Along with realignment of the spine, patient’s may receive exercises designed for them to help strengthen and correct their problem. These exercises can be part of treatment or performed in your own home. They can improve the effectiveness of your spinal correction. In addition to skeletal misalignment, muscles and connective tissues can be out of place or strained by improper alignment and use. Specific exercises and stretches can help your body stay in balance and in health.

How You Feel Taller

Often patients feel taller after a chiropractic adjustment. While the body doesn’t actually grow in height, the realignment of the spine straightens out and stretches the soft tissues surrounding the spine, allowing for you to appear anywhere from ¼ to 2 inches taller than you were before the alignment. 

Another large part of chiropractic care is treating postural problems. Adjustments can resolve these issues and improve the ability to maintain proper elongated posture of the spine. The body can function better and is able to stabilize the spine in a “non-hunched” position. Feeling taller and having better posture are just two of the benefits of chiropractic care and you can additionally expect many more positive outcomes from the process.