
The Gonstead System of chiropractic care was developed by Dr. Clarence S. Gonstead of Mt Horeb, Wisconsin beginning in 1923. He refined his unique system over a 55 year period.
The Gonstead Method focuses on being as specific as possible with the examination and adjustment of the patient. The examination includes taking a detailed history, instrumentation, static palpation, motion palpation, neurological testing and often times, full spine x-rays taken in the standing, weight bearing position. Necessity of x-rays is determined during the functional examination. Lastly, the patient receives a very specific hands-on adjustment.
By using his or her hands as adjusting tools, the Gonstead chiropractor is better able to sense the relaxation of the patient and to control the direction and amplitude of the adjustment needed for each individual patient.
The goal of the Gonstead chiropractor is to “do the least to achieve the most”. That is to say, the least amount of segments to be adjusted with the least amount of force the least amount of times. This is case specific to each patient. The Gonstead chiropractor does NOT address every patient with the same manipulative procedure of twisting the neck and lower back from both the right and the left and the middle back from top to bottom.
Every patient is a unique case with specific injuries and must not be given the same course of adjustments. That type of approach could potentially harm individuals with too much impact to the joints of the spinal column and result in neurological insult. Gonstead chiropractors believe that chiropractic care is not scientific unless the adjustment is specific.
The Gonstead Method has hundreds of years of combined clinical experience of doctors around the world and has been tried and tested. Through the process of deductive science, the Gonstead chiropractor is confident that if subluxations are found during the functional examination, he or she has a specific protocol for adjustments with an expected result. Furthermore, if a need for additional evaluation is found necessary, he or she will refer the patient to the appropriate doctor or therapist to insure that the needs of each patient are properly met.