Chronic low back pain that nothing has fixed?
If you’ve had low back pain for months or years, tried stretches, massage, injections, traction, adjustments, and it still keeps coming back, there may be a reason nothing has held: the problem may not be starting in your low back at all.
15 minutes to find out if we can help your low back pain.
Sound like you?
You’ve been dealing with low back pain for a while now, and you’ve done more than most people to try to fix it.
Maybe some of this sounds familiar:
- Your low back often feels stiff, especially in the morning and after sitting for a while.
- You can barely bend forward enough to put on your socks, or tie your shoes in the morning.
- You have to brace yourself when you sneeze, because if you don’t, you’re afraid your back might “go out.”
- You get occasional sharp pain in your low back that stops you in your tracks.
- You have a hard time getting comfortable in bed.
- Sometimes your back “goes out” doing something simple, like lifting the toilet seat.
If you recognized yourself in more than a couple of these, there may be a piece nobody has looked at yet: the alignment at the very top of your spine, and how your low back has been compensating for it.
↓ Watch: Dr. Jason Gonzales explains why chronic low back pain keeps coming back and how upper cervical care approaches it from the top down. ↓
The low back pain & alignment connection
Imagine balancing a tall broomstick upright in the palm of your hand. Where do your eyes go? You look at the top of the broom, not your hand. To keep the top steady, you make small, constant adjustments with your hand far below. If you stared at your hand instead, the broom would topple every time.
Your body works the same way, and your low back is the hand.
Here is the part most people never hear. Your body has one priority it will never give up: keeping your head level. The alignment starts at the top, at the upper cervical spine, your C1 and C2, also called the atlas and axis, sitting directly under your skull. When those top bones shift and your head starts to tilt, your body will not let your head stay crooked. So it compensates lower down. Your mid back, hips, and low back make small, constant adjustments to keep your head level, exactly like your hand under the broomstick.
That compensation is where the pain comes from. Your low back and pelvis end up doing the balancing work for a problem that started at the top of your spine. Over months and years, one hip sits higher, your lumbar curve changes, and the muscles across your low back stay switched on around the clock. An unlevel pelvis and a stiff, aching low back are often the visible end of that chain, not the true starting point.
This top-down pattern is well documented.
A 2026 review in the Asian Spine Journal described cervical alignment as the “top-down driver” of the whole spine, noting that the neck is prioritized for keeping your gaze level and that the rest of the spine compensates around it.
Why adjustments to your low back haven’t held
If you’ve had your low back adjusted over and over and the pain keeps returning, here is a likely reason. A chiropractic adjustment alone cannot force your spine into a better shape. What actually holds your spine in position is muscle tone, the constant, involuntary pull of your postural muscles. If the top of your spine is still off and your body is still compensating to keep your head level, those muscles keep pulling your low back back into the same pattern, no matter how many times it is adjusted. That is why we start at the top.
You can see it on an x-ray
Sometimes the clearest way to understand your low back pain is to look at it. These are x-rays from actual patients (identifying details removed).
You might notice one side of your pants or belt rides a little higher, or that your low back has a very pronounced curve. If you notice either of those, it is worth paying attention to. They can be a visible sign of the top-down pattern driving your chronic low back problems.
What we do differently
A protocol, not a guess
If you’ve had your low back worked on over and over with no lasting change, you’ve experienced the guessing approach: treat the spot that hurts, hope it holds, repeat. We work differently. Before we touch your spine, we test:
- Thermography, to see how your nervous system is functioning
- Biomechanical x-rays, to see the position of your C1 and C2 and how your spine and pelvis have compensated below
- A clinical exam of your posture, pelvic balance, and where your low back is restricted
Only then do we know whether we can help you, and if we can, exactly where the one adjustment needs to happen.
Putting it all together
We combine all three to answer one question: is the top of your spine driving your low back pain, and can we help? If it is and we can, the testing shows us the single place to focus. If it isn’t, we’ll tell you that too, and point you in a better direction.
Ready to find out if your upper neck is the missing piece to your lower back puzzle?
We adjust when it’s needed, not every time
We don’t adjust your spine every visit out of habit. We re-test, and we adjust only when your objective measures show you actually need one. This protects the correction and keeps us from doing the very thing that hasn’t worked for you.
Your muscles hold the correction, so we teach you how
Here’s the honest truth: an adjustment doesn’t force your spine into place, and neither we nor anyone else can. What holds your spine is muscle tone, the involuntary pull of your postural muscles. That’s why we teach you simple self-care built into your daily life, not two hours of exercises you’ll never keep up with. A few key habits, done consistently, help your muscles support the correction so it lasts.
What testing looks like
You won’t be adjusted on your first visit. We test first, because we won’t tell you we can help until we’ve looked.
Thermography
A quick, painless scan that measures how your nervous system is functioning. It shows us whether your system is adapting or stuck.
Biomechanical x-rays
Precise images of your C1 and C2 and the spine and pelvis below them. This is where we see the top-down pattern for your specific case: how your head is sitting, and how your low back and pelvis have compensated.
Clinical exam
We check your posture, pelvic balance, range of motion, where your muscles are tight, and which joints are actually restricted.
Will this work for you?
We’re honest about who we can help, and who we can’t.
It’s most likely to help if…
- Your low back pain has stuck around despite trying the usual things
- Your imaging hasn’t shown a serious structural cause
- Your clinical pattern points to the top of your spine driving compensation below
We need to pause if…
Some things need to be ruled out or addressed before upper cervical care is appropriate. We screen for these, and if we find them, we’ll tell you and point you to the right provider first:
- Severe disc herniations (need MRI to confirm)
- Severe arthritis
- Acute (recent) soft tissue or connective tissue tears
- Organ pathology
- Bone pathology
If something serious is going besides a top-down alignment problem, you deserve to know that and get referred to the right type of doctor of clinic for treatment.
We also look for what else might be driving your pain
Alignment is often the main piece, but it isn’t always the only one. When it’s warranted, we look further: blood labs to check for inflammation and other contributors, and screening for sleep issues like sleep apnea that keep your body inflamed and slow to recover. The goal is simple: make sure we’re not missing something that’s keeping you in pain.
No magic bullets
Even when upper cervical chiropractic care is the right fit, we can’t promise a cure. What we can tell you is this: many people who didn’t respond to traditional low back care do respond to upper cervical care, because it addresses the top-down driver that treatment aimed only at the low back can miss.
If a clinic promises to cure your chronic low back pain, be skeptical. Nobody can promise that. We won’t either. What we can promise is an honest look at whether the top of your spine is driving your pain, and a clear answer either way.
Find out if we can help your low back pain.
Fifteen minutes, no cost, no pressure. Just answers.