Thompson Technique

Chiropractic Economics Staff

8 years ago

The Thompson Technique uses a drop table to help DCs provide high velocity, low amplitude, and low force adjustments.

Founder: J. Clay Thompson, DC, PhC

Year founded: This technique was founded in the early 1950s; however, one of Thompson’s understudies, Erik A. Chamberjian, DC, CCEP, FICPA, says that patents were not granted on Thompson’s drop devices until a few years later. Specifically, the Palmer-Thompson drop headpiece was patented in 1955 and a table with drops for dorsal, lumbar, and pelvic areas was patented in 1957.

Certification requirements: This technique is taught at a basic level in chiropractic schools, but becoming a certified Thompson Technique provider requires taking a course on this chiropractic method and passing a subsequent exam. Additionally, recertification may be required at regular intervals to maintain certification.

Technique description: The Thompson Technique uses a drop table to help DCs provide high velocity, low amplitude, and low force adjustments. This offers patients a less forceful adjustment while also reducing wear and tear on the doctor’s body because the manipulation is assisted by the drop device. According to a survey of 218 DCs, this technique is used by 59 percent of practitioners at least once every other week.

Basic technique principles: Logan University states that the Derifield leg check is “at the heart of” the Thompson Technique. In fact, this technique is so grounded in this particular diagnostic method that it is now commonly referred to as the Derifield-Thompson leg check, which involves analyzing a patient’s cervical and pelvic movement via leg length to help the DC diagnose spine-related issues.

Research published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics adds that this check can help clinicians “reliably measure a LLI [leg length inequality] to less than 3 mm (both inter- and intraobserver), and also detect a change in LLI when the head was rotated.”

Conditions this technique helps treat: Studies have found that the Thompson Technique provides benefits relating to:

Pregnancy care. Research has found that the Thompson Technique is one of the most utilized chiropractic techniques in wellness care regimens of pregnant women, providing positive results related to decreased pain and increased function. Other favorable effects reported by study subjects include reduced numbness, decreased headache episodes, and improved digestive function.
Pediatric wellness. A cross-sectional survey in The Journal of Science and Healing reports that the Thompson Technique is also one of the most common chiropractic techniques used to enhance health and wellness for patients under the age of 18. Furthermore, risk of adverse effects for this population is low, with DCs reporting three adverse events out of 5,438 office visits.
Chronic back pain. In 2015, the Journal of Physical Therapy Science published a study conducted on two golfers with chronic back pain. After engaging in four weeks of twice-per-week chiropractic treatments via the Thompson Technique combined with muscle massage and 60-minute sessions of corrective exercises, the individuals’ pelvic tilt “changed significantly,” thus reducing spinal deformations.
Inward neck curvature. A study published in Europe PMC involved 95 subjects, with each one placed in either a treatment or control group. After 10 to 14 weeks of drop table adjustments combined with Diversified Technique, a majority of the subject’s C2 to C7 angles, C1 to horizontal, anterior head translation, and average relative rotation angles changed, creating “a transformation to a lordotic configuration or increase in lordotic configuration.”