You have seen it many times. One friend lies on their stomach and the other friend walks on their back. Or, you’re sitting in class, and the kid across from you grabs his chin and pushes it onto his shoulder, resulting in a lot of popping and popping. People crack their knuckles. They have friends who bear hug them from behind and lift them off the ground to break their backs. Some people even drive their knee into a friend’s spine and pull their shoulders back to break their back. These things may feel better temporarily, but they’re not good for you in the long run.
If you have ever been to a chiropractor, you will notice that they also break your back and neck during an adjustment. Common sense would tell you that if a chiropractor goes through extensive education and training to do this for money, he shouldn’t let his friends do it. Bones pop and crunch when they move in a certain way, and the sound you hear is the result of gases released into the synovial fluid in the joint. Once you’ve cracked your neck, back, fingers, etc., you can’t immediately crack them again because you have to wait for the gases to return to the synovial fluid.
If you break your bones a lot, you may find that you feel the “need” to break them to feel better. However, the more you break bones and joints on your own, the more long-term damage you’re causing. Think about how people crack their necks or fingers. They bend them backwards, forwards, or sideways in a way that it looks like they shouldn’t go. This is because popping the joints means taking them out of their normal range of motion.
When you crack or pound your back or neck, you are taking your ligaments and muscles out of their normal range of motion. When your muscles are stretched in this way, you feel better, so you feel some relief afterwards. Your muscles are what hold your ligaments in place, and when you move your body in that way, they stretch, meaning the muscles will soon tighten to hold the ligaments in place again.
When your friends manipulate your body in this way, they could cause a sprain or strain. A sprain is an injury to the ligaments and a strain is an injury to the muscles. One wrong move and they could seriously hurt you.
Chiropractors have to go through years of training to be able to manipulate their patients. They learn all the different parts of the spine and how to move them without hurting their patient. If you want your back and neck to get proper treatment, you need to go to a chiropractor to get it adjusted. These types of appointments may even be covered by health insurance.