[the violent jarring of my head ]
from the chiro?? There is no need for any rough or violent adjustments..

Your muscles might be locked up and in spasm if chiro needs to be very firm with adjusting.. but rough or violent..nooo..

If that is how they usually do their adjusting, find a better and higher skilled provider....
And if muscles are extremely tight, that needs to be resolved before adjustments can last long term.

The chiro I went to treated muscles, posture as well as adjusting..
He used ultrasound, manual trigger point work, low level laser, massage..
The muscles need to be cared for as well as the bones & joints..they all work together...

Chiro adjustments should not be aggressive or jarring. C-1 and C-2 do not need high energy to treat.

Look for a chiro who uses Activator gentle techniques.

I have never seen a chiropractor not have one in the first place?...Many times when people are very locked up its the only adjustment they can do....I suggest they just ask their chiro to use the activator, cant see them be offended?

Many chiros do not know or believe in Activator. In my experience, 2/3rd of chiros are useless if you need gentle treatments.

Uh-oh, I guess I have to find a new chiro then. I have been to this one three times, and each time has consisted of very swift, jarring movements with my neck. I was initially concerned, but she assured me everything was safe. She even described our sessions as "beating me up" for the day. What type of chiro do you guys recommend? I have heard great things about ATLAS chiros.

Look for chiros who use Activator techniques. Atlas Orthogonal, NUCCA, Blair, and some others do upper cervical but use common sense. Some are very narrow sighted in their skills and diagnostics.

I had a chiro who did Twist the head and pop the neck very well. He used massage before so the pop came with minimal effort.