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What happens when a Chiropractor crack you. Do joints need to crack?
There’s plenty of misconceptions about ‘cracking’ joints and chiropractic so in this blog I’ll explain what these cracks are, why they happen in some chiropractic techniques, and whether this is important or not…
Sometimes joints in the spine get restricted in a certain position. This can happen due to poor posture, awkward positions, all kinds of things. Normally they free up by themselves, sometimes they don’t and you need a chiropractor. Chiropractors use a variety of techniques to loosen these restricted joints but the most common way is pushing with the hands. Depending on the shape of the spinal joints (everyone has slightly different anatomy) and the direction the vertebrae are pushed, sometimes the joint makes a noise as they move.
Spinal joints have a bit of lubricating fluid inside and they’re essentially airtight (think vacuum sealed). If the joint surfaces are pulled apart gas gets pulled from the surrounding fluid and this creates a cracking sound. Imagine the palms of your hands are moist, you squeeze them together then pull them apart and it makes a sounds—it’s like this. Essentially it’s a break in the vacuum formed within a joint. After 10 minutes the gas is reabsorbed and so you can do it again.
If the joints slide apart as they move (like rubbing the palms across each other instead of pulling them apart and separating them) this does not break the vacuum so does not make a crack. So depending on the direction the joints move sometimes joints crack when they are mobilised and sometimes they don’t. Some techniques create more cracks that others. The aim of the chiropractor is to free up the restricted joints, NOT make cracks, so it really doesn’t matter if the joints crack or not, as long as they move better after being mobilised.
If there is a lot of muscle spasm or inflammation cracks are less likely as the joints are harder to move far. If the joints are really badly jammed there will be less movement so less cracks too.
