What is the difference between a chiropractic adjustment and “cracking” my own back or neck?
A chiropractic adjustment is SPECIFIC to a particular joint, and is delivered at a SPECIFIC angle, with SPECIFIC force and depth, using a SPECIFIC method to have a SPECIFIC result. The adjustment is directed to only those joints which, upon careful and skilled examination, are found to have impaired movement of function (i.e.: hypomobile joints). A spinal joint may be “dysfunctional” in any of six different directions, or planes of motion. Your chiropractic physician is expertly trained to diagnose exactly how a joint is restricted, and how the joint dysfunction is best corrected. What occurs when you “crack” your own back or neck is entirely different. You are merely forcing those joints that are EASIEST to move (i.e.: hypermobile joints) to do so, and to move into the direction that is already EASIEST for them to move in. You are having NO effect on the joints that need help the most! not only is this “self remedy” extremely non-specific, it is also harmful. Repeated “cracking” of th
