Can I crack my own back?

Can you crack your own back and avoid the chiropractor?

This is a common and somewhat confusing question. Can you crack your own back or neck? Yeah, some people can. But SHOULD you? This is a different question.

You may be able to crack your own back or neck and feel better for a short amount of time, but then do you find yourself constantly trying to crack your own back and neck to make it feel better again? This can be because you are causing the fun popping sound but not correcting the part of your spine that is causing you to be uncomfortable. When you crack your body you can release endorphins which help with pain management and can make you feel better for a short amount of time, but if you don’t adjust the part of the body that is causing a real issue you will find yourself having to crack your own back over and over and over to feel that relief which doesn’t seem to ever fully go away. In some cases, when trying to crack your body you can hurt yourself more than help anything.

Chiropractors aren’t just bone poppers and crackers. They are doctors of chiropractic that went to school for years to learn all about the human body. They take classes on nutrition, anatomy, immunology, diagnosis, physiology, pathology, biochemistry, neuromuscular and orthopedic evaluation, pediatric and geriatric care, microbiology, radiology, philosophy, and clinical research. They learn about how the nerves of the body control digestion, pain, reproductive health, overall nervous system tone, and so much more. They have been trained to find the areas of the spine that need to be adjusted in your specific case. They are great at finding the spot that isn’t moving and correcting that rather than guessing and just getting a lot of pops out of your body. Fixing the problem is always the best solution. If you want to learn more about chiropractic adjusting and how it is different than doing it yourself please contact our office at (515) 516-1718, we would love to talk about this further!