Gonstead
The Gonstead technique represents the ultimate standard in spinal adjustment and remains the most precise technique. It is also the most difficult to master.
The Gonstead system goes beyond what many chiropractors do. The Gonstead chiropractor performs a thorough analysis of your spine using six criteria to detect vertebral subluxation and know exactly how to correct it:
- Patient history: Listening to the patient already gives a lot of valuable information.
- Visualization: Visualization is a way of cross-checking all the other findings. Your chiropractor is an expert at looking for subtle changes in your posture and movement that could indicate problems.
- Nervoscope: The Nervoscope detects uneven heat distribution along the spine, which can be a sign of inflammation and pressure in the nervous system.
- Static and dynamic palpation: This is simply the process of feeling along your spine for swelling (or oedema), or abnormal contraction in the muscles and other tissues of your back and loss of mobility in your joints.
- X-ray analysis: X-rays are useful for assessing posture, joint and disc integrity, spinal misalignments and ruling out any recent pathology or fractures. These X-rays fully support the results of the examination.
- Then to treat you, the "Gonstead" chiropractor will use the very specific Gonstead adjustment: The aim of the Gonstead adjustment is to be as precise as possible, treating only the problem areas, without rotating or twisting your spine. This makes it the safest chiropractic technique available.
Dr. Clarence S. Gonstead
Clarence S. Gonstead was born on 23 July 1898 into a farming family in Wisconsin. He developed rheumatoid arthritis at an early age, which prevented him from attending school for several weeks. He was treated by one of the very first chiropractors, JB Olsen D.C., who gave him a great deal of relief and passed on his passion for chiropractic to him.
Dr Gonstead began working in Mont-Horeb in 1923, a town of 1,200 inhabitants in the middle of Wisconsin. Then, year after year, with one therapeutic success after another, he had his 3rd clinic built in 1964: the Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic, with a waiting room for over 100 people, 11 treatment rooms, X-ray rooms and an analysis laboratory. He also built a 78-room hotel next to the clinic, welcoming patients from all over the world.
Renowned for his perfectionism, hard work and passion for what he did, he generally worked from 8am to midnight, 6 days a week, and from 5am to 10am on Sundays. On average, the clinic saw between 300 and 400 patients a day. Year after year, Dr Gonstead improved his particular adjustment technique, to which his name was later attributed. His successful technique was adopted and taught by numerous chiropractic colleges. He died at Mont-Horeb in 1978 at the age of 80.
Dr. Clarence S. Gonstead
The Nervoscope detects uneven heat distribution along the spine
X-ray analysis is a key element of the Gonstead method and allows visualisation of the entire spine
Gonstead Clinic of Chiropractic
The Cox brothers, who subsequently took over the clinic, worked all their lives on the same basis, perfecting the specificity of the Gonstead technique, and continued to teach it throughout the world at numerous seminars.
The Gonstead clinic is still very active today, and many Gonstead chiropractors (after years of training) practise throughout the world.
