Hey everybody, Dr. Fedich here at Village Family Clinic. Coming at you with one of the most frequently asked questions we'll get here online and in the clinic. People like to ask me, "Why can't I just crack my own back?" So a lot of you don't love that term. We're going to explain to you why you can't crack your own back with this nifty tool here. So anytime you move a joint really quickly, it makes a popping sound. Everyone's popped their knuckle and heard that popping noise. You're not really doing anything productive. It doesn't give you arthritis like your grandma told you, but it's not really doing much. It just means you moved a joint quickly. The gas inside gets released and makes a noise when you move a joint quickly.
So if these guys here are little bones of vertebrae in the normal spine, they each move a little bit. When we bend or twist one way to the other, each bone moves a little bit. So, if you move one of those bones really quickly, it'll make a popping noise. What typically happens when people are adjusting their own back is like these red balls here. Some of these joints of the spine get stuck. And you can see when those are stuck, you see the ones above them have to make up for that lost motion. These three aren't moving here, and you'll see these ones naturally have to move a little more to make up for it. So what you're doing when you're popping your own back is that one that's already moving too much, you're just moving it even more. And sometimes, that actually makes the problem worse. So a joint that's moving too much, you're moving it more and more and more, and it can create a bigger and bigger problem, which we'll see here in the clinic.
Now, what chiropractors do is we find the one here that's stuck, and we adjust that one that's stuck, allowing them all to move evenly like they're supposed to. We get nice natural motion in there. You can crack your own back, but what you're doing is just moving a joint that's already moving too much and still having that stuck joint there, which only a specific chiropractic adjustment can get those joints open again. So, don't crack your own back. Let a professional do it. Cracking your knuckles won't give you arthritis. Grandma just told you that because it's a little bit annoying, but don't do that too much either. Have a great day. Talk to everyone soon.
