Is 'popping' or 'cracking' your neck or back good for you? Everyone does it right? So how can it be bad for you? These are questions I hear quite often. Yes, I know popping your own neck "feels good", but really its like a placebo effect. When a chiropractor gives an adjustment, it is to a specific area that has decreased movement. The joint is restricted and no longer has its normal range of motion. This is the area we adjust. The area of a subluxation in the neck or back involves three bones; the 'stuck' bone, the bone above the 'stuck' bone, and the bone below the 'stuck' bone. The two bones above and below the 'stuck' one are trying to make up for the decreased movement of the 'stuck' bone. They will move more than normal because they are compensating for the other. When you pop or crack your own neck, you are making the bones above or below move and not the one that actually needs to move. Self adjusting is general and not specific like a chiropractic adjustment. You will feel like it helped, but only for a little while because that one bone is still 'stuck.' Get adjusted by a chiropractor and feel the difference!
