Is cracking your own neck or back bad for you?

If your neck or back feels stiff or tight, you might feel the urge to try to crack or pop the area. But is cracking your own neck or back bad for you? As a chiropractor, this is a question I am frequently asked by patients. The short answer is that it's not a good idea to try to crack or pop your own neck or back. Mobilizing the area this way is very different from chiropractic care! Popping or cracking your own neck can lead to other problems, and it doesn't resolve the issue at its source.

Why does my neck or back feel tight?

If you feel that your neck or back is tight and stiff, or that it feels "off," you may have a misalignment in your spine. Spinal misalignments can cause asymmetrical muscle engagement, which can lead to sore and tight muscles. The discomfort you feel is your body's way of telling you that there is a problem that needs to get checked out!

Why is cracking your own neck or back bad for you?

If you crack your own neck or back, you are mobilizing an entire region in a nonspecific way. This means that you may feel segments "pop" that are above and below the misaligned region. The global mobilizations that occur if someone "cracks" their own neck or back are not specific to the misaligned vertebra and may misalign other vertebrae around it.

Why do I feel the need to crack it again and again?

As we mentioned before, cracking your own spine tends to move other things out of place, and it also doesn't get the original misalignment back in position. This means that after a short period of time, you will likely feel the misalignments in your spine and tight muscles again, since the misalignments were not corrected.

The best way to stop this cycle is to make an appointment with a chiropractor. A chiropractor will assess the situation, determine what misalignment(s) may be present, and correct them with a specific adjustment.

How is chiropractic care different?

When a misalignment is present, it needs to be realigned using a specific chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic adjustments are specific to the misalignment present, taking into account how the vertebra may be misaligned in all three dimensions. The adjustment targets only the misaligned vertebra and focuses on realigning it into a specific place. This not only helps the joints and muscles but also influences the nerves in the region, keeping your body working well as a whole!