"Popping Backs" vs Chiropractic Adjustments
A lot of times as my patients are warming up to get adjusted, they tell me that they did my job for me because their spine just popped, but there is a big difference between popping a joint, and a chiropractic adjustment.
To understand the difference, we first have to start with a little anatomy lesson of the joints of our bodies. A joint is formed when two bones come together and articulate with each other. Around the joint we have soft tissue that is called the joint capsule which provides a little bit of stability, but primarily produces fluid that is inside the joint space called synovial fluid which acts as a lubricant for the joint, almost like oil does for your car engine. Through our daily activity, the synovial fluid produces the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide that build up in the joint space.
When we flex our joints far enough that the gas can escape from the joint space, it creates a “popping” sound that we call cavitation. This can happen through any number of normal daily motions like squatting down to pick something up and your knees or ankles may pop, or when you lay in bed and roll over and your spine might pop. The nice thing about cavitation is that it also triggers your body to release endorphins, which are feel good hormones, so it actually feels good when this happens. This is the reason that people obsessively pop their knuckles or twist in their chairs to get their spine to pop, it feels good and it is easy to understand why people might think that they just adjusted themselves!
The difference between a pop and an adjustment, is that the purpose of the adjustment is to actually move the bone from a misaligned position to its proper position to take pressure off of the nervous system. To do that, you need to be able to identify which bones are misaligned, where they need to go, and then have the skill to put it in the proper position. That is the special skill set that chiropractors go to so many years of school to learn. It is not possible to adjust your own spine, even if you are a chiropractor, which is why I go to a chiropractor too. Now most times when we deliver adjustments to the spine, the joint space does flex enough for the gas to escape and make a popping noise, but that is just a byproduct of what we are doing. I joke and describe it as a fart for your spine. The purpose behind an adjustment is to move the bone, if it pops that’s great because of the fun sound and the endorphin release making it feel good, but if it doesn’t pop, that is fine too as long as the bone goes where it is supposed to and takes pressure off of the nerves.