Upper Cervical Technique for Chiropractors
Learn the Kale Upper Cervical Technique
All you need is a sharp, fast adjustment made with recoil. That's the knee chest toggle recoil, delivered to the atlas or the axis, to a listing you found on the films. Here's how I teach it.
My hands drilling the toggle on a training block: set, thrust, recoil.
How It Works
Three Findings, Then One Move
Read the Films
The Kale series: lateral cervical, AP open mouth, and base posterior. You draw the lines, measure the atlas angle, and name the listing: ASR, ASL, ASRP and the rest. It's like opening up a safe. You got to have a combination.
I teach the line drawing point by point, and how to find the major.
Check with Instruments
A thermography reading left and right behind the ear, plus a posture check. Kale doctors check before and check again on the next visit, and they use those findings to decide when it's time to adjust, and when to leave it alone.
The Knee Chest Position
The patient kneels with the thighs square to the floor, the chest on a solid padded headpiece, and the head turned to the listing side. You stand with your sternal notch right over the contact. It's the posture B.J. Palmer used in the research clinic.
The Toggle Recoil
Pisiform on the posterior arch of atlas or the spinous of axis. Arms relaxed, torque set from the listing, then one fast, committed thrust and an instant recoil. It's not just a pushing down. It's a set recoil. Speed, not force.
You drill it on the Torque and Toggle Training Tool and the Speeder Board before you ever touch a patient.
Why Knee Chest
Why Not Do It the Way B.J. Palmer Did?
Why not do it like Dr. B.J. Palmer did? Knee chest has historical and traditional value and a track record. B.J. Palmer adjusted knee chest in the research clinic. Lyle Sherman carried it, my father carried it, and I've practiced it on the posterior arch for thirty-five years.
Questions
Plain Answers
What is the Kale Upper Cervical Technique?
It is a knee chest upper cervical adjusting method taught by Dr. Randy Kale. The doctor studies x-rays of the top two bones of the neck (the atlas and the axis), checks with thermography instruments, and then gives one specific adjustment by hand while the person rests in a knee chest position. It comes from the line of B.J. Palmer, Dr. Lyle Sherman, and Dr. Michael Kale.
What does knee chest mean?
It is the position on the table. The person kneels on a padded step and rests their chest on a padded surface with the head turned to one side. That position lets the doctor reach the top of the neck and deliver a light, quick, specific adjustment.
What is a toggle recoil adjustment?
Toggle recoil is a hand adjustment B.J. Palmer developed. The doctor delivers a very fast, shallow thrust and then pulls the hands away right away, the recoil. It is aimed at the atlas or the axis. Kale doctors practice it for years on training tools to build speed and control.
How is the adjustment decided?
Kale doctors do not guess. They read upper neck x-rays to find the exact listing, the direction to adjust, and they use thermography instruments to check before and after. The adjustment is given only when the checks say it is time, then it is delivered once, done right.
How do I learn the Kale technique?
Come to the live Kale Certification seminar, December 4 and 5, 2026 at The Avalon in Alpharetta, Georgia, apply for private 1-on-1 training, or join the waitlist for the online certification opening in 2027.
How do chiropractors train the toggle recoil?
On training tools before patients. Dr. Kale's doctors drill speed and control on the Torque and Toggle Training Tool and the Speeder Board, which latches under a light, fast thrust, so they learn speed, not force.
Is this medical advice?
No. This page explains how the technique is taught to chiropractors. Anyone with a health question should talk with their own licensed provider.
Upper Cervical Seminar · Live, Hands on
December 4 and 5, 2026
The Avalon, Alpharetta, Georgia. Two days in the room with Dr. Kale: x-ray, instrumentation, and the knee chest toggle recoil, hands on, then practice success. Doctors $5,000, students $500. Paid in full.
