I hear a lot of the same questions from patients and community members in Altoona. I thought it would help to have a resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the Chiropractic industry to just address some of them here. If you have any you would like me to answer, leave a comment below or send me an email through the contact form. I would be happy to answer.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION #1: Is it ok to pop my own neck or back?

I get this question all the time from patients as well as other people in the community when they find out I’m a Chiropractor. Let us first look at what creates the popping sound.

The popping sound comes from gasses within your joints. When you take your neck or back to end range it creates pressure within the joint. When that pressure becomes too great, nitrogen gas is released which causes the “pop”.

There is also another noise you may hear. You may hear a clicking in some joints, most often the hips and knees. This could be due to tight muscles, misalignments, or structural damage.

So back to the original question: Is it bad to pop your own neck or back?

Answer: Yes!

Here’s why: When you twist your own neck and hear a “pop”, that noise is coming from the loose joints in your body. When you self adjust in this way, you are making the bones in your neck hypermobile, which is not good. As Chiropractors, we focus on the hypo-mobile joints-the ones that are stuck-and get them moving properly and in the right direction.

If you do self adjust, you need to do strengthening exercises to prevent the hypermobility and visit your Chiropractor so she/he can address the “stuck” joints.

Believe me, I understand how tempting it is to do it yourself. But in the same way self diagnosing from webMD is never a good idea, neither is self adjusting. Chiropractors spend years learning about proper alignment and adjustment so trust us to do the work for you!

Give Dawson Chiropractic a call to set up your appointment so that I can help with any stiffness that might be tempting you to self adjust.