Balance your body
The Zone Technique
Zone Technique is a system for finding out where the body is struggling before deciding how to adjust it. Rather than working through the same routine every visit, Dr. Samano checks six systems — glandular, eliminative, nervous, digestive, muscular, and circulatory — and directs care toward whichever ones his exam points to that day.
It is one of five techniques he is trained in. Which one he reaches for depends on you: your age, your history, and what shows up on the table.
The short version
What is the Zone Technique?
- Developed
- 1931, by Dr. Thurman Fleet, D.C.
- Where
- San Antonio, Texas
- What it checks
- Six systems of the body
- Where the exam starts
- The base of the skull
- How it feels
- Quick, light, and undramatic
The Zone Technique was developed in 1931 by Dr. Thurman Fleet, a chiropractor practicing in San Antonio. Nearly a century later it is still taught and still used, refined into its modern form by Dr. Peter Goldman.
Fleet’s premise was that six centers in the brain govern six systems in the body: glandular, eliminative, nervous, digestive, muscular, and circulatory. When one of those centers is out of balance, the signals it sends are off, and the system it governs has to work harder than it should.
That is the part that makes Zone different from what most people picture when they think of chiropractic. The usual assumption is that the brain is sending the right message and something in the spine is interrupting it on the way down. Zone starts one step earlier and asks a different question first: is the message itself right?
From your side of the table, none of this is dramatic. There is no twisting, and no cracking is required for it to work. That is exactly why the same technique can be used on a two‑week‑old and on a grandfather with arthritis — the checking is identical, and only the force changes.
He checks
Dr. Samano palpates along the ridge at the base of your skull, feeling for tension at the specific points that correspond to each of the six centers.
He adjusts
Whichever centers read as unbalanced tell him where to work — a set of specific contacts along the spine for that zone, and nowhere else.
He rechecks
He goes back to the same points to confirm what changed. You are not taking his word for it, and neither is he.
What are the six zones?
Each zone represents a system that keeps you running day to day. Every visit starts by checking which of them are asking for attention, so the adjustment you get reflects what is actually going on rather than a script written in advance.
The Glandular System
Hormones, energy, stress response, and sleep rhythm.
The Eliminative System
Clearing waste through the kidneys, bowel, lungs, and skin.
The Nervous System
The brain–body conversation everything else depends on.
The Digestive System
Breaking food down and actually absorbing it.
The Muscular System
How muscles fire, hold tension, and recover.
The Circulatory System
Moving oxygen and nutrients where they’re needed.
This zone relates to
Thyroid · Adrenals · Pituitary · Pineal · Reproductive glands
Zone 1
The Glandular System
The glandular zone covers the body’s hormone‑producing glands. This is the system behind your energy through the day, how hard stress hits you, how easily you fall asleep, and a good deal of how you feel generally.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Low energy, or feeling wired and tired at the same time
- Sleep that won’t come, or won’t hold through the night
- A shorter fuse with stress than you’d like
This zone relates to
Kidneys · Bladder · Bowel · Lungs · Skin
Zone 2
The Eliminative System
The eliminative zone covers how the body clears out what it no longer needs — through the kidneys, the bowel, the lungs, and the skin. When these are sluggish, people usually feel it before they can name it.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Constipation, bloating, or plain irregularity
- Congestion and sinus trouble that keeps circling back
- Skin that flares up without an obvious reason
This zone relates to
Brain · Spinal cord · Nerves
Zone 3
The Nervous System
The nervous zone is the one every other zone runs through. Your brain and body are in constant conversation, and the spine is the road that conversation travels. This is the zone Dr. Samano’s whole approach is built around.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Stress that never quite switches off
- Trouble focusing, or a head that feels foggy
- Headaches and nerve‑related discomfort
This zone relates to
Stomach · Small and large intestine · Liver · Gallbladder · Pancreas
Zone 4
The Digestive System
The digestive zone covers how food is actually broken down and absorbed — not just what you eat, but what your body manages to do with it.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Reflux, heartburn, or a stomach that stays unsettled
- Bloating that shows up after meals
- Eating well but not feeling like you get much from it
This zone relates to
Skeletal muscle · Posture · Movement and recovery
Zone 5
The Muscular System
The muscular zone covers how muscles fire, where they hold tension, and how quickly they let it go. It’s the zone most people can feel changing first.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Tightness that comes right back within days of being worked on
- Cramping, or muscles that give out sooner than they should
- Slow recovery after training or a hard week of physical work
This zone relates to
Heart · Blood vessels · Circulation
Zone 6
The Circulatory System
The circulatory zone covers how blood moves — how oxygen and nutrients reach the places that need them, and how waste gets carried back out.
Often a focus when patients mention:
- Cold hands and cold feet, year round
- Heaviness or swelling in the legs after a long day
- Getting winded sooner than you used to
In practice
How this fits into your visit.
Zone Technique does not add time or equipment to an appointment. It changes what Dr. Samano is looking for before he adjusts, and where he directs the adjustment once he has looked.
It is gentle enough for every age he sees — the same technique can be used on a newborn, an expecting mom, and a grandparent, with the force scaled entirely to the person on the table.
If you are curious whether it fits what you have going on, the honest answer is that a conversation will tell you faster than a website will. Call 817‑894‑8484 and ask.
What we want to be clear about
Illuminnate Chiropractic does not diagnose, treat, or claim to cure diseases or medical conditions. Our care is focused on locating and correcting vertebral subluxations to support proper spinal alignment and nervous system function.
The zones described on this page are a framework for organizing an exam, not a diagnosis of any organ or system. Any change a patient notices in overall comfort or function follows from restoring alignment and supporting the body’s own capacity to heal — individual experiences vary, and nothing here should be read as a promise of a particular result.
Chiropractic care is not a substitute for medical care. For diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition, please see a licensed physician. If you are managing a health condition, keep your medical team in the loop about the care you receive here.
Come find out what your exam shows.
New patients are welcome, and your first visit starts with a conversation rather than an adjustment.