The question being “What is an adjustment”? It could be one or more of several things. Someone upthread mentioned the electro thingie. They lay a fairly heavy pad on you, and send a current through your muscles, which causes them to contract and release rapidly. It loosens and warms the muscles, making further treatment easier. My current guy has never used it on me. (I’ll have to ask him about it some time.)
Then there’s what I would call manual manipulation. For the problems I have had, the doc would have me lie on my back, loll my head around a few times, then give it a yoink to realign it. Nice loud crack sound. For my lower back, he would have me lie on my side, then use my hip and shoulder to twist my back a bit. Another nice crack sound. And sometimes they give you a jolt on your spine while lying face down, kinda like you would do CPR.
My guy also has some machines to help out. Basically, they thump you with a tip about the size of your thumb. I’m not too big a fan of these, but they work a little, some of the time. Manual is what does it for me.
I started going to the Chiropractor for neck problems. That guy never solved anything. It was the “come back in two days”/rinse and repeat until wallet empty treatment and by neck locked up again like clockwork every 6 weeks.
Then I had a major upper back injury (all musculature) and he was completely worthless for that. The Neurologist too was worthless, simply telling me that I’d heal in time.
Then this new guy was recommended to me. He’s a Chiropractor and Kinesiologist (whatever the fuck that means). He very quickly resolved the neck problems, but resolving the scarring from the back injury has been a very slow process. It’s mostly in the middle of my back between my spine and right shoulder blade. I also have on-going problems with my right shoulder, which was damaged when I was a small child.
The bottom line about why you’re not getting an answer here is that for the most part, Chiropractors are quacks. The good ones, the ones who might help you, are few and far between. All I or anyone else can recommend is that you give it a try, and if it doesn’t work, try another Chiropractor.
Then I can go back to my basic warning above, saying to steer clear of anyone who uses the word “Subluxation”, or who keeps asking you to keep coming back and coming back - and always seems to have plenty of openings to get you in!
If you were in Minnesota, I’d give you a recommendation for mine, but with the caveat that he’s got a waiting list of patients more than a year long. About a year ago, because he’s 65 now, he started training two new people to follow in his footsteps, and new patients are now directed to them until they get to see him.
I can tell you that I had/have an almost identical situation. My pain might be in my shoulders, but the problem is in my neck (the result of being a passenger several years ago in a car that was rear ended). You can test if it’s the same for you by rubbing your neck and seeing if it relives the pain.
I’ve never been to a chiropractor, but I went to an excellent massage therapist that was recommended to me when the pain was at its worst. She managed to fix a lot of the problem with only one visit.
I’ve had mixed success. I think it’s dangerous to allow anyone to screw around with either your neck or lower back. I was going for treatments and also getting myotherapy (deep tissue massage). The massage was good, but I started realizing that the more I went to the chiro, the more I needed to go. So I quit going, and the problems eventually cleared themselves up. Haven’t been back.