Beyond the Adjustment: Dr. Don MacDonald’s Polyvagal Approach to Chiropractic Care

After nearly three decades in practice, Dr. Don MacDonald found himself returning to a question that did not get smaller with experience. It became sharper. How could a chiropractor read more clearly what a person’s nervous system may be communicating, then respond with greater precision, steadiness, and care? That question now sits at the center of Dr. Don MacDonald and Brandi MacDonald’s work through The Informed Chiropractor, where polyvagal-informed chiropractic becomes a practical lens for better assessment, clearer communication, and more confident adjusting.

Polyvagal-Informed Chiropractic With Dr. Don MacDonald

Dr. Don MacDonald began practicing in 1997 after graduating from Palmer College of Chiropractic. Based in Edmonton, he has spent most of his professional life with his hands on the table, listening through clinical observation, palpation, and adjustment. Alongside that daily practice, he has served the profession as an educator, mentor, speaker, author of The Underdog Curse, a people-pleaser's guide to growth and stress reduction, and former president of the Edmonton Chiropractic Society.

Yet his current work did not begin as a branding exercise. It began as a clinical inquiry. Over time, Dr. Don became increasingly interested in the way people respond to cues of safety and stress. For chiropractors, that awareness can matter in small, practical ways: how a person breathes, braces, relaxes, resists, explains discomfort, or responds to touch and positioning. Rather than treating those responses as distractions, he began looking at them as information.

That inquiry led to the MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol, his approach to assessing and adjusting through a polyvagal lens. The protocol considers interconnected areas of the body related to vagal pathways and function, including the upper cervical spine, ribs, diaphragm, pelvis, pelvic floor, and cranial structures. It does not claim to replace medical assessment, nor does it present polyvagal theory as an explanation for every patient response. Instead, it gives chiropractors a structured way to notice, interpret, and respond with more clinical intention.

This is where polyvagal-informed chiropractic becomes especially relevant for experienced practitioners. Many chiropractors already have strong technical foundations. They have invested in seminars, built practices, and developed confidence. Still, some feel they have hit a ceiling. They want to refine the moment between observation and adjustment. They want to know whether their communication supports trust. They want to feel more present in the work that once energized them.

A Teaching Partnership Built On Trust

The distinctive force behind The Informed Chiropractor is not only Dr. Don MacDonald’s clinical experience. It is the partnership between Don and Brandi MacDonald. He brings the hands-on chiropractic perspective, shaped by nearly 30 years of practice. Brandi brings her background in social work, along with her expertise in interoception, communication, and how people experience cues of safety and stress.

Together, they teach chiropractors that the adjustment room is not divided into separate categories of technique and conversation. What the practitioner notices in the body can shape what is said. What is said can affect how a person receives care. A patient’s response can guide both the next contact and the next explanation. In that shared space, polyvagal-informed chiropractic becomes less theoretical and more practical.

"Brandi and I challenge and strengthen each other's thinking. Our work is better because we build it together, and that is the experience we want chiropractors to have when they learn with us," Dr. Don says.

Their mentorship community, The Informed Chiropractor Collective, was created for chiropractors who want ongoing development rather than a single burst of seminar inspiration. Through the Collective, Don and Brandi help experienced chiropractors deepen adjusting skills, communicate with greater confidence, and strengthen ties with the people in their care. The aim is not to change the core principles of chiropractic. It is to help practitioners apply those principles with sharper awareness and greater consistency.

For professionals who spend their days caring for others, that sense of belonging can be its own kind of renewal.

That combination has taken their teaching beyond Edmonton. Don and Brandi have presented to chiropractors in more than 12 countries, including appearances connected with Life West’s The Wave and Parker Seminars. Their live gatherings have taken them from Lisbon to Toronto, from Phoenix to Perth, bringing together clinical technique, interoceptive awareness, and the human skill of explaining care in a way that builds trust.

The tone of their work matters. They do not frame other chiropractors as wrong or behind. Instead, they speak to practitioners who are already capable and committed, but who want to keep growing. That difference is important. The Informed Chiropractor does not sell a shortcut. It offers a place to refine judgment, ask better questions, sharpen touch, and reconnect with the satisfaction of meaningful clinical work.

The Pelvic Floor Within The Safety Corridor

One of the more distinctive parts of Dr. Don MacDonald’s hands-on teaching is his pelvic floor protocol. In many clinical conversations about movement, tension, breathing, and body awareness, the pelvic floor may be underdiscussed or treated as separate from broader assessment. Dr. Don places it within the larger MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol, where it is considered alongside the upper cervical spine, ribs, diaphragm, pelvis, and cranial structures.

For chiropractors, the value of this teaching is not in memorizing a script or applying a technique without context. It is in learning to observe the body as an integrated system and to consider how cues of safety and stress may appear through tone, guarding, breath, posture, and patient feedback. The pelvic floor protocol is taught in hands-on seminars for chiropractors, where appropriate boundaries, clinical reasoning, and practical application can be addressed in a supervised educational setting.

This careful framing is central to polyvagal-informed chiropractic as Don and Brandi teach it. Their work does not promise specific clinical outcomes. It does not suggest that pelvic floor work replaces medical evaluation or other appropriate care. Instead, it invites chiropractors into more precise observation and more thoughtful decision-making. In an era when healthcare conversations can become rushed or overly mechanized, that kind of clinical presence has real professional value.

The strongest image of The Informed Chiropractor may be two teachers in the same room, watching the same moment from different but complementary angles. Don sees the clinical contact, the adjustment, the sequence, and the bodily response. Brandi sees the language, pacing, trust, and felt sense that may shape how a person understands the encounter. Together, they show chiropractors how both forms of awareness can belong in the same adjustment.

For chiropractors searching for their next level, Dr. Don MacDonald and Brandi MacDonald offer a path that is both grounded and expansive. Explore The Informed Chiropractor if you want to study the MacDonald Safety Corridor Protocol, understand the pelvic floor protocol within a broader clinical framework, and bring polyvagal-informed chiropractic into everyday practice with more clarity, confidence, and care.

Explore More About The Informed Chiropractor

Explore practical insights for a more informed chiropractic practice. Visit The Informed Chiropractor, listen to the podcast, and connect on YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook with Brandi MacDonald and Dr. Don MacDonald.