Our Approach to Structural Correction
We measure before we recommend. Our four-step process is designed to find the structural factors that may be contributing to your problem and, where they are relevant, to address them through a plan for spinal alignment and structural rehabilitation.
Analyze
Correction begins with understanding the problem. After the complimentary consultation, the examination is a separate paid service that establishes what is present, how much of it is measurable, and whether it is relevant to the symptoms that brought you in.
- Structural X-rays for objective measurement, when clinically indicated
- PostureScreen measurements
- Functional Assessment of range of motion
Correct
Once your findings are measured, Dr. Bury builds a plan around them. There is no standard plan. Which corrective adjustments are used, how traction is set up and progressed, and how quickly the load increases are matters of clinical judgment, decided for your spine and reviewed at each progress examination.
- Specific corrective adjustments, matched to the measured shift
- Individualized corrective traction, where the findings call for it
Stabilize & Strengthen
Correcting the structure is just the beginning. We also teach you how to exercise properly, so that what you do outside the office supports the work rather than undoing it. That way you can train safely and progress on your own terms.
Why Structural Work Takes Time
Short-term care has a real place, and for many people symptom relief is exactly the right goal. What we do is different in intent rather than better in every case: building a foundation takes longer, and we measure it, because we are aiming at change that holds rather than change that feels good this week.
- Proper exercise technique instruction
- Loading and activity guidance you can apply outside the office
- Building a resilient body, not only a more comfortable one
Structural Reassessment
Structural change is worth little if it does not hold. Once the corrective phase is complete we re-measure, and what we find determines what comes next: for some people that is a reduced schedule with periodic reassessment, and for others it is discharge. We will tell you honestly which one applies.
- Objective reassessment against your baseline measurements
- A reduced schedule, or discharge, depending on what the re-measurement shows
- Education you take with you, so the result is yours to keep rather than something you depend on us for
Same Word, Different Work
Not All Corrective Chiropractic Is the Same
Many practices describe their care as corrective, and the word covers several different things. Each of the four below has a real purpose. They overlap and complement one another, and most plans here combine more than one of them. They are not interchangeable, though, because each one aims at something different.
Mobility work
Helps stiff joints move.
What it aims to change: How far a joint moves, and how comfortably.
Strengthening
Builds the muscles that hold a position.
What it aims to change: Strength and endurance, so a position can be kept.
Postural rehabilitation
Trains how you stand, sit and carry your head.
What it aims to change: Habits and body awareness through the day.
Structural correction
Aims to change measured spinal alignment, and often draws on the other three. The examination decides whether that is a realistic goal for you.
What it aims to change: The measured position of the spine, where the findings support it.
An exercise program can improve strength and endurance without changing the shape of a spinal curve. Corrective traction is designed to load a curve in a specific direction and is appropriate only when the measurements call for it. Which of these you need, and in what order, is a question your findings answer rather than a menu you choose from.
What Makes the Difference Here
Our evaluation follows a consistent process, while recommendations are individualized.
- A detailed structural examination.
- Standing spinal X-rays, when clinically indicated.
- Objective alignment and posture measurements, compared with reference values.
- An individualized recommendation: which combination of corrective procedures and rehabilitation, and in what order.
- Scheduled reassessment, so that change, or its absence, is documented.
Methods & Technology
How We Measure and Support Correction
Every tool in the office exists to answer a clinical question or to deliver one part of a correction plan. Whether any of them is used for you depends on your examination findings, not on what is available. Here is what each one does, why it matters, and when it comes into play.
Measuring
Posture measured in millimeters
- What it helps:
- Head, shoulder and hip position measured against normal reference values.
- Why it matters:
- A number you can compare at a progress examination, instead of an impression of whether you look straighter.
- When it is used:
- At the examination and at each scheduled progress examination.
PostureScreen
Structural X-rays and stress views
- What it helps:
- Spinal alignment and curves, and on stress views, how segments move under load.
- Why it matters:
- Some findings, including instability, cannot be seen on a static film or felt by hand.
- When it is used:
- Only when clinically indicated, and repeated only when clinically justified.
In-house X-ray suite
Correcting
Adjustments matched to the measured shift
- What it helps:
- Specific adjustments delivered opposite the direction your measurements show.
- Why it matters:
- The aim is a change in alignment, not only short-term relief.
- When it is used:
- Part of most correction plans, where the examination supports it.
Mirror Image® adjusting (Chiropractic BioPhysics)
Corrective traction for the neck
- What it helps:
- Sustained, low-force loading intended to move the cervical curve toward normal values.
- Why it matters:
- In the published trials behind this approach, improvements lasted longer when traction was part of care.
- When it is used:
- Cervical curve findings, when appropriate for you.
Cervical extension traction (UTS)
Corrective traction for the mid and low back
- What it helps:
- Sustained loading aimed at measured lumbar and thoracic alignment, with motorized traction for selected spondylolisthesis presentations.
- Why it matters:
- Curve-focused, so a plan can address the alignment finding rather than the symptom alone.
- When it is used:
- Based on measured findings, and reviewed at each progress examination.
Lumbar and thoracic traction (UTS); motorised traction table
Mechanical spinal decompression
- What it helps:
- A separate, disc-focused intervention intended to reduce load on the disc space.
- Why it matters:
- Its aim is different from corrective traction. The two are not interchangeable, and research on one is not evidence for the other.
- When it is used:
- Selected disc presentations, when clinically appropriate.
Decompression table · Read more about this method
Supporting
Supervised functional training
- What it helps:
- Upright balance, coordination and movement control, supervised in the office.
- Why it matters:
- Helps your body hold a change that the measurements show.
- When it is used:
- During the corrective phase, as appropriate.
G-NAT · Read more about this method
Corrective exercise and rehabilitation
- What it helps:
- Exercises matched to your findings, with whole-body vibration as a rehabilitation adjunct where useful.
- Why it matters:
- Correction that is supported at home is more likely to be maintained.
- When it is used:
- Introduced once the plan is agreed, and progressed as findings change.
Corrective exercise; Power Plate · Read more about this method
Whether each of these applies to you is decided at the examination and explained at the Patient Recommendation Conference, the visit where your findings, our recommendations and the proposed plan are reviewed. Nothing here is assumed in advance.
Not sure whether this applies to you?
The complimentary structural consultation is a 15-minute conversation about your concerns, what you have already tried and whether an examination makes sense. No examination takes place, and nothing is booked beyond it unless you decide.
Or call 724-672-3794
Go Deeper on the Reasoning
- • What we mean by obstructions: structural or movement-related barriers, explained in plain language.
- • Why we separate primary conditions from secondary ones: the distinction the whole approach rests on.
- • How structural correction measures and works toward spinal alignment: the method and its limits.
- • The G-NAT system used in corrective rehabilitation: how corrective work is delivered.
- • What actually happens when you become a new patient.