What Is SOT? A Plain-English Guide to Sacro Occipital Technique

A free patient handout from Pura Vida Chiropractic — San Antonio's only Advanced SOT certified practice.

This guide is written for patients — not for doctors. It is meant to take you from "I have never heard of SOT" to "I understand exactly what my chiropractor is doing and why." You can read it straight through in about 15 minutes. If you want a printable version for your own reference or to share with a family member, download the PDF at the end.

The Short Version

SOT — Sacro Occipital Technique — is a complete system of chiropractic care developed over 60 years of research by Dr. Major Bertrand DeJarnette. It treats your body as an integrated whole rather than as a spine and a bunch of unrelated parts. The three pillars of SOT care address:

1. Your spine and pelvis
2. Your organs
3. Your skull and its effect on your nervous system

It is the most comprehensive chiropractic system ever developed. Dr. Dan Foss at Pura Vida Chiropractic is San Antonio's only Advanced SOT certified practitioner, trained through the Sacro Occipital Research Society International (SORSI).

Why Most Chiropractic Care Falls Short

Most people's experience with chiropractic is this: you go in, you lay down, you get "cracked" in a few predictable places, you feel better for a day or two, and then you are back. After months or years of this, you wonder if it is actually doing anything lasting.

The reason is simple. Most chiropractors adjust the same things on every patient because they do not have a way to tell what any specific patient needs today. There is no examination system built into the visit that answers the question "what, precisely, is wrong in this person right now?" So they apply a generic adjustment, hope it helps, and ask you to come back.

SOT is different because it was designed by a mechanical engineer who refused to work that way.

Who Was Dr. DeJarnette?

Dr. Major Bertrand DeJarnette — called "The Major" by his students and patients — was an engineer, an osteopath, and a chiropractor. His story is remarkable. As a young man he was severely burned in an industrial accident. He later sold a color-photography patent to Kodak during the Great Depression and used the money to fund 60 years of clinical research into the human body.

He tested every procedure on himself before teaching it. He produced over 135 published volumes. He maintained a private practice at the same address for decades, often treating patients free of charge because he was living off his Kodak royalties. When he died in 1992, he left behind one of the most coherent, teachable, and effective systems of chiropractic ever developed.

The Three Pillars of SOT

Pillar 1 — Spine and Pelvis

Your pelvis is the foundation of your entire structure. If the pelvis is tilted, rotated, or unstable, every structure above it — spine, ribs, shoulders, neck, head — compensates. SOT recognizes three distinct categories of pelvic dysfunction:

• Category I — The sacroiliac joint is "fixed" (not moving properly). The dural membranes that wrap your brain and spinal cord are involved. You may feel fatigued, foggy, or just neurologically "off."
• Category II — The weight-bearing part of the sacroiliac joint is strained. This is the most common category we see. It often presents as low-back pain that is worse with standing and better with lying down.
• Category III — A lumbar disc is involved, usually pressing on the sciatic nerve. This is the classic "sciatica" presentation.

Each category has a specific, reproducible correction using pelvic blocks — wedge-shaped tools placed at precise angles under your pelvis. Your own body weight and normal breathing do the adjustment over several minutes. There is no cracking or forceful manipulation required.

Pillar 2 — Organs (CMRT)

Here is something you were probably never told: your spine is connected to your organs. Every thoracic vertebra — the ones between your shoulder blades — is wired to a specific organ through your autonomic nervous system.

• T5 goes to the stomach (think acid reflux and GERD)
• T9, T10, T11 supply the adrenal glands (think chronic fatigue and burnout)
• T2 through T5 involve the lungs and immune system
• The lower thoracic and lumbar segments connect to the intestines, kidneys, and reproductive organs

When an organ is stressed, the vertebra it is connected to subluxates. And keeps subluxating. Every time you go to your regular chiropractor, he adjusts that same vertebra. A week later it is out again. Why? Because the organ driving it has not been addressed.

Chiropractic Manipulative Reflex Technique (CMRT) is the organ-adjusting branch of Advanced SOT. It directly addresses the organ reflex that is holding the vertebra out of place. Dr. Foss is San Antonio's only CMRT-certified chiropractor.

Pillar 3 — Cranium (SOT Craniopathy)

The 22 bones of your skull continue to move — subtly — throughout your life. This motion drives cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow, which bathes and nourishes your brain and spinal cord. When a cranial bone loses its motion — from birth, from a fall, from a concussion, from dental work, from stress-driven muscle tension — CSF flow is disrupted. The nervous system is starved.

The consequences range widely: headaches, migraines, vertigo, tinnitus, TMJ, ear infections in children, post-concussion syndrome, sinus problems, and the classic complaint "my adjustments do not hold."

SOT Craniopathy restores this cranial motion with contacts so gentle they are often measured in grams. Many patients describe it as "the doctor just rested their fingers on my head" — and then report dramatic changes afterward.

How Dr. Foss Examines You

Every SOT visit includes a re-examination of indicators — objective neurological findings that tell Dr. Foss exactly what is happening in your body today. These include:

• Arm Fossa test — reveals which category of pelvic dysfunction is active
• Trapezius fiber analysis — localizes specific spinal subluxations
• Occipital fiber analysis — locates organ involvement for CMRT
• Leg length check — assesses pelvic rotation
• Cervical indicators for lumbar subluxation — neck findings that reveal low-back problems

Your adjustment today is based on what your indicators show today. Not on habit.

What to Expect at Your First Visit

1. Health history and intake conversation — we want to hear your story.
2. Physical and neurological exam using SOT indicators.
3. X-rays if clinically indicated.
4. Report of findings — Dr. Foss explains what he found, what category you are in, and what the care plan looks like.
5. Your first adjustment, tailored to your findings.

The first visit is typically 45 to 60 minutes. Your free evaluation costs you nothing and carries no obligation.

What SOT Care Feels Like

SOT adjustments are gentle. There is no popping or forceful cracking required. Many patients fall asleep during the visit. Children often ask to come back because they enjoy the sensation.

After a good adjustment, patients commonly describe:

• A sense of release through the spine
• Improved breathing depth
• Reduced tension in the jaw and neck
• Better sleep that night
• Reduction in the symptom that brought them in

Is SOT Safe?

Yes. Serious injury from chiropractic adjustment is estimated at less than 1 per 6,000,000 visits. SOT is even safer than the chiropractic average because it relies on gentle, blocks-based corrections rather than high-velocity thrusts. It is appropriate for newborns, pregnant women, older adults, and everyone in between.

Ready to Experience It?

If what you have read here resonates with your experience — if you have been adjusted for years without real resolution, or you have a child with chronic ear infections, or you have had a concussion and have not been the same since — SOT may be what you have been missing.

Dr. Dan Foss offers a free evaluation. Call (210) 685-1994 or book online at puravidablog.vercel.app.

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Pura Vida Chiropractic — 2318 NW Military Hwy Suite 103, San Antonio, TX 78231. Hablamos español.