Three techniques, chosen after the exam: Diversified, Zone Therapy, and Torque Release. Not a one-move routine.
The contact
Dr. Alan G. Levitt, DC, chooses the contact after he has watched the joint move. He graduated from Northwestern College of Chiropractic in Bloomington in December 1986, has been in practice since 1987, and has worked at 6200 Excelsior Blvd, Suite 201, Saint Louis Park, MN 55416 since 1999. Call 952-920-7535.
A subluxation, in the language this site uses, is a spinal joint that is not moving well and may be irritating a nearby nerve. The adjustment is meant to restore motion at that joint. It is not described here as a cure for disease, and it is not sold as something you must hear pop. Some contacts are quick. Some are quiet. The sound is not the goal.
Other methods listed on the doctor’s biography, including applied kinesiology, Koren Specific Technique, Talsky Tonal Therapy, polarity, and muscle testing, are part of how he evaluates. They are not three extra adjustment brands. The three named techniques for the thrust or the regional work are below.
Three options
You should be able to repeat the reason in your own words before you lie down.
A quicker, direct contact. The office describes it as a thrust used to restore motion, ease tension, and improve how the joint lines up. It is not applied because it is the famous version. It is applied when the exam says that speed is appropriate.
Aimed at a region rather than one joint in isolation. The adjustment is paired with spinal massage so the area is treated as a connected set of parts, not an isolated click.
The gentler contact. The office describes it as a way to help the nervous system settle and communicate, without making a fast thrust the only option. It is the one we lean toward when a disc is irritable or a fast move is a poor fit.
Who it is for
Lower back pain, neck pain, headaches, other musculoskeletal pain, and subluxations. Each of those is explained with the condition it belongs to. Neck pain is neck pain. Back pain and sciatica are back pain. The focus here is the contact itself.
Headaches are included only when the exam ties them to the neck or the upper back. A sudden severe headache, a headache after a head strike, or a headache with confusion is not an adjustment slot. Disc herniation is not “just adjusted.” If a nerve is weakening, disc care explains when we refer.
Benefits the office lists, and that we will not inflate, are less pain and tension for many mechanical problems, a change in how the joint moves, and a drug-free option before surgery is discussed. None of those is a promise for your case. Surgery and medication remain physician decisions.
The hour
Arrive 10 to 15 minutes early with a photo ID and clothes you can move in. The history is where it hurts, what changes it, and what has already been tried. The exam is hands-on. Imaging is selective. Then the technique is named. If today is not an adjustment day, you still leave with a reason.
Afterward, soreness can happen. It is not required, and it is not proof the visit “worked.” Sharp new weakness, a headache that is unlike your usual one, or bowel or bladder change is a reason to call or to seek urgent care, not to wait for the next booked slot. Ordinary movement is usually encouraged unless a physician told you to rest.
Book a new-patient visit or, if you already have a chart, the existing-patient form. There is no package price listed in advance.
When we skip it
Major trauma that has not been cleared, progressive weakness, groin numbness, fever with spinal pain, unexplained weight loss, and pain that never changes with position are not “try a crack and see.” We screen and we refer. Keeping a visit on the book is not a clinical goal.
Some joints feel easier to turn before you stand up. Some feel ordinary until the next morning. A mild ache in the muscles around the contact can show up and fade. That ache is not required, and it is not a score. A sharp line of pain into the arm or leg that was not there, new weakness, dizziness that does not settle, or a headache unlike your usual one is a reason to call the office or urgent care, depending on how severe it is.
The pop, if there is one, is gas shifting in a joint. Plenty of useful contacts are silent. Chasing the sound is how people get a technique they did not need. If you want Torque Release because you dislike the sound, say that. Comfort with the method is part of consent. It does not override a finding that says a fast contact is unsafe, and it does not mean a silent technique is weaker.
Follow-up is based on the retest. If rotation improved and stayed improved, the next visit may be further out, or it may be exercise only. If the neck locked again by dinner, the daily position is part of the problem and another thrust alone will not be the whole plan. We would rather lengthen the gap between visits when the exam allows than keep a standing weekly slot out of habit.
Children, older adults, and people with osteoporosis in their history get the same screening, not a louder version of Diversified. If a technique is a poor fit for bone density or for a fused area a surgeon created, it is not used there. Bring those records. We will not discover a fusion by guessing.
If you have had spinal surgery, bring the levels that were fused or decompressed and the date. We do not adjust through a fusion and we do not argue with a surgeon’s restriction that is still in force. Adjacent segments can still be examined. That is a different sentence from “everything is adjustable.” People who want only the gentle option should say so at the start. People who want the visit over in two minutes should also say so. A rushed contact to honor a clock is not the technique list above. The visit takes the time the history takes.
Questions
Safety and logistics. Not a promise about how you will feel tomorrow.
A specific contact on a joint that is not moving the way it should. The neck after a long day and the low back after a week of sitting are the examples this office uses. You should know which technique and why before it happens.
They are a screened procedure, not a casual one. Dr. Levitt examines you first. A high-velocity contact is not the opening move after major trauma, unexplained weight loss, night pain that never changes, fever, or a change in bowel or bladder control. Those are medical problems until a physician says otherwise.
Only if the exam says it is safe and useful that day. Some people leave the first visit with a plan and no thrust. X-rays are taken when they would change the plan, not as a routine. The first-visit steps are explained under what to expect.
No count is quoted from the phone. A recent mechanical problem and a years-long pattern are different. If the same tests are not changing, the schedule does not continue out of habit.
The techniques above are spinal and regional. They are used for low-back pain, neck pain, headaches, other musculoskeletal pain, and subluxations. Feet are a separate service when orthotics are the lever. Laser and ice are separate tools.
Next to the table
Laser, ice, exercise, and orthotics are separate decisions.
Address
6200 Excelsior Blvd, Suite 201
Saint Louis Park, MN 55416
Phone
952-920-7535Hours
