Advanced Chiropractic: The Wonders of ABC
by Michael K. Olkjer, D.C.

Patients are amazed that they can look and feel so much better when so little force and effort is used.

Remember how your mom always told you to sit up straight because it was healthier? Well, she was partially on the right track. The reason we are encouraged to stand up straighter is because there is a long history of observation that people who stand up straight are healthier than others. However, this does not mean you can force yourself up straight and be healthier. Forcing yourself upright is not what is healthy. Having your body working well enough so that it stays upright without any effort is what is healthy. 


A chiropractic technique called Advanced BioStructural Correction (ABC) helps individuals to return to the upright position and stay there without any effort; your body not only feels better, but functions better as well. In the upright position your heart and lungs work more efficiently and you stay healthier. The development of ABC, as taught by Dr. Jesse Jutkowitz, is one of the most exciting developments to happen to the chiropractic professional in recent years. ABC utilizes observation and understanding of the workings of live bodies and their responses to certain stresses to help the body stay upright. 


Let’s consider four truths we know about our bodies:


First, the body is a partially self-correcting mechanism. Clearly, the body is not totally self-correcting or you would never need a doctor. For example, cut your finger and it will heal. Cut your finger off and it will not grow back.


Next, to get a body healthy and working properly, we adjust only the things the body cannot self-correct, allowing the body to do the rest (such as healing that cut finger). 


Third, is that there are some things the body cannot self-correct (re-grow a new finger).


Fourth, is that we should never adjust anything the body can correct but is not correcting. Why? Because the body knows what needs to be corrected. The beautiful thing about ABC is that doctors are able to find the areas that need to be corrected and leave alone the other areas (because they do not need to be corrected at that time, even though the patient may feel pain there). ABC doctors adjust according to what each individual body needs, at that particular time, to heal and unwind through past trauma. The body will then let the past trauma go and the pain will disappear.


Knowing those four truths about our bodies allows us to find what they cannot self-correct. You may be surprised to learn that spinal bones go out of position in directions the body cannot self-correct because there are no muscles that pull in the direction needed to get those bones back into their proper position.


Picture a spine with a fishing reel at the neck—the fishing line goes down your back, with the hook at the bottom. When bones go out of place in a direction you can't self﷓correct, the body gets stuck forward. The meninges (the covering surrounding the brain and spinal cord) then tighten up, reeling in the fishing reel. The problem is thus not just the pulling on the nerves and brain stem, but that this tension locks the spine forward in stress physiology. 


In other words, this is a position the body can’t correct itself because there are no muscles pulling in the direction(s) needed for correction. The only thing that one can do is compensate. When we compensate to that, we eventually compensate to the next thing and so on. Before long, we've compensated dozens to hundreds of times to an original injury that the body could not correct itself.


In short, we cannot heal from stress physiology. Just look at all those people trying to correct posture (their own and others) and not accomplishing it! All healing happens from ease. It's impossible to heal from stress. If the body can't fix itself, it compensates for stress by shifting pressure to something that can take it but never heals, just compensates.


When adjusted with ABC, the body immediately straightens without effort by the patient. The body also immediately begins a process of unwinding. The body unwinds out of every injury, accident, trauma, and emotional upset it’s ever had. In my experience, the only things ABC hasn't been able to help are infections, fractures, cancer and such. Everything else improves immediately.


Immediate Results
For ABC patients, results are fast and profound. In fact, many ABC doctors find the results so reliable and fast they are often amazed themselves. ABC doctors frequently see patients with problems after they have been to many traditional and holistic practitioners, of varying techniques, with few or no results. These patients get improvement in a matter of visits—often the very first one.


So, how do we know the body is unwinding through old injuries? Extensive pre- and post- sitting and standing full spine films by Dr. Jutkowitz and other doctors show it by measurement. With ABC, we have a system that clearly shows when to adjust and when to leave it alone. This is much more effective than exercises and traction, and makes the changes without the use of either. 


ABC is also an incredibly gentle technique. Patients are amazed that they can look and feel so much better when so little force and effort is used. ABC also reveals an end point at which the spine completes its unwinding process. At that point, patients can pursue wellness care. They learn from their ABC doctor which activities cause the body to be pushed forward and can choose to avoid those before compensations (pain) are established. As our bodies stay upright and healthy, we can do the things we want to do without worries of pain. 


If you are suffering from a condition that has not been resolved, realize that it has taken years to damage your body to where you are today. ABC can help with immediate relief and long-term correction. Just as dental braces take 18 months or more (with 24 hours a day contact) to straighten, your spine will also take time. There are no unrealistic health goals with ABC—only unrealistic time frames. Though you may not be healed with one visit, you will see a huge change in the way you look and feel on the very first visit.


Patients choose to make ABC part of their lifestyle because of the quality of life benefits they experience, including better breathing, posture, sleep and relaxation; less pain and stress; more energy; and feeling happier—just to name a few.

Michael K. Olkjer is a chiropractor who loves to see his patients take charge of their health and conquer lifelong problems.  He is the owner of Active Family Chiropractic, Inc., 337-3422. (Some of the preceding article was taken by permission from Dr. Jesse Jutkowitz, the developer of Advanced BioStructural Correction.  To learn more about ABC, see www.advbiostructuralcorr.com)