Does an adjustment have to make noise to be effective?
No, it is a common misconception that your joints must make a noise to be properly adjusted. However, often when your vertebrae are adjusted, the smooth articular (joint) surfaces become separated, creating and then releasing a small vacuum, making a noise. This is the sound made when you “pop” your knuckles. Your chiropractor is concerned with the position of your vertebrae, not with the noise that may occur.
There is a common misconception that your joints must make a noise to be properly adjusted. Chiropractors are not concerned with the noise, rather we are concerned with the effect the adjustment has on the nervous system. As a matter of fact, in our office we often use an adjusting instrument call the ‘Activator’, which makes excellent adjustments without causing joints to make noise.
