Is it good to crack your back?

G

Gary007

Joined
May 17, 2002
Messages
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Seems like my daughter is always cracking her back,..I cringe whenever she does it. Seems like I hear about 3 or 4 loud pops as she twists around.

Then today my wife's friend gave my daughter a little massage and cracked her back for her (by manually twisting her) my daughter loved it because she was able to crack her back all the way up. (is that safe?)

Then a few of my coworkers love to go to chiropracters and get their backs "adjusted".

So what's up with this back cracking, and back adjusting?

Is all this good, needed, beneficial, or even safe?
 
Is all this even possible? :eek:

Evidently it is ... for some people. I don't crack my back, but my ankle and my shoulders lock up a bit sometimes, and stretching will crack them free, and they feel much better. Pain goes away and circulation returns.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Is all this even possible? :eek:

Evidently it is ... for some people.
Click to expand...

It's possible. I do it the same way his daughter does, and it feels really good. I also crack my neck, which feels good too, but I'm not sure if that's good for you...?

~ashes
 
It's not good.

It speeds up possible future problems with arthritis and other joint problems despite any temporary pain relief.

Or so I was told.
 
Well, I guess it's just like cracking your knuckles. And I used to do it a lot. There's a dull kind of ache in them, sometimes if I just stretch my fingers out then bring them in, they make crakingish sounds.

It can't be good.
 
Emanuel said:
It's not good.

It speeds up possible future problems with arthritis and other joint problems despite any temporary pain relief.

Or so I was told.
Click to expand...

I heard that was a myth... I'll have to look that one up.

~ashes
 
The actual cracking sound is fluid moving suddenly through the joints, nitrogen gas bubbles popping or the clicking of cartilage - depending on who you speak to. I vote for the last one.

If a local muscle spasm is holding a joint tight - suddenly moving the joint can release the muscle spasm (the muscle is using feedback from the joint as one of the data inputs when deciding how tight to hold itself). This is why the 'click' of the joint is often accompanied by pain relief.

The mistake most people make is assuming they have to crack the joint to get the release (and relief). Gently stretching the area and performing some slow and gentle rocking of the joint can often achieve the same results without the clicking.

I'm yet to see any evidence that clicking increases the odds of arthritis.
 
This happens when some chiropractors adjust your back but it isn't necessary.My chiropractor does adjustment without a bit of cracking.It is caused by release of gas.
 
It's release of gas. Happens when you move the joint slowly, if it's going to happen at all.

Jerking a joint violently probably is bad for it in the long run. My back and neck pops with each vertebra when I apply gentle pressure - no joint trouble yet, but that simply be the benefit of youth...
 
There is really nothing you can do as far as cracking you back(within reason) that can injure it.

A physical therapist showed me a series of movements to help my neck, and showed my wife how to pull a traction on it, and at the same time move my head to either side, towards the shoulders.
It usually cracks loudly, and I don't believe the gas story for a second.

The therapist also told me that maintaining mobility by stretching the muscles like that is half the battle with pain. Let the back/neck stiffen up and you're a going to be hurting if you have back problems.

When I can, and my back is bothering me enough, I pay a visit to an Osteopath here. I found that his manipulations outlasted the chiropractors by a huge factor. Back/neck cracks like crazy when he does his job.

Must be releasing lots of gas.:rolleyes:;)

Edited to add; I wonder if that's where the old joke "here, pull my finger" came from about the cracking being gas.;):D
 
Actually, I think the correct answer is .... it depends. Depends on what exactly is going on besides the release of gas and if there are any underlying medical conditions. For instance, if you have a non-traumatic stress fracture that you are unaware of you could create problems. Or if you have low bone mineral density you could in the course of "cracking" your back cause a fracture. Are you actually re-aligning something or taking something out of alignment, or causing any kind of soft tissue damage? Some chiropractors perform "adjustments" without the benefit of knowing what's going on inside their patients before they just start manipulating and don't know what the result is afterwards. Or friends, family, co-wqorkers "crack each others backs and have caused problems.

Again, it just kind of depends on the individual and their specific set of circumstances. For your daughter, I would suppose that as long as it's not done in violent manner it may not be causing any problems. But if it starts to get to the point of really twisting or jerking hard and fast or flexing beyond what would be considered a normal range of movement, it may lead to problems for her.

I am not a doctor or anything like that, however I used to work at an osteoporosis research center where we were involved in clinical drug trials for the treatment of osteoporosis. I also scanned children using non-steroidal asthma medication, I scanned cadaver parts and ostrich parts for the anthropology dept. Anyway, I scanned people using a DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) machine, analyzed the results and handed them over to a physician for interpretation and patient/research volunteer consult. Learned that this (cracking" stuff has been and will continue to be debated, just be careful is really what it comes down to.

Mike
 
I've had a lot of back problems over the years. Upper back, lower back. I've been in so much pain with it several times that it was excrutiating to sit, stand, lie or walk and the only thing that helped were good Chiropractors or Masotherapists doing some good, old fashioned "cracking." I had to have my wife put my socks and shoes on me to go to work. Yeah, that's stupid, I should have stayed home.

I believe, after all this pain and experience that all of my back pain has been muscular in origin. You get static spasms which cause the muscles to pull continually on the spinal area adjacent to the spasm and it pulls your back out of alignment. These muscles are all very powerful, too. Muscle relaxers have helped me quite a bit, as has stretching and myotherapy, which works by applying pressure to the spasmed area and releasing the tension in the muscles. Probably the best thing any of us could do, if we could afford it, would be our own personal massage therapist working on us every day after work. Wouldn't that be nice? :)
 
"Release of gas".

That'd be the bubbles in the synovial fluid (lube) in your joints. Definitely not cartalige breaking or any of those old myths. Then there's the unintended "release of gas" that might happen when you're lying down very relaxed. :D

Cracking your spine (back/neck) can indeed be harmful if you do it wrong. Yes, chiopractors do it all the time, but they've got the medical degree and know what they're supposed to do. If you do it yourself, and do it wrong, you could screw something up. Most aches/pains in the spine area are from muscle spasms pulling on the spine, or from simple fatigue. Cracking can relieve some of the ache (like cracking your knuckles) temporarily. However, if you do it wrong, you might slip something out of place even worse.
 
It does not hurt anything. and it does not speed up possible future problems with arthritis, That would be a myth, like being in the rain makes you sick.:rolleyes:


Zoo
 
I crack a lot of the joints in my body. My back(its really loud sometimes, I do it a few times a day...I love watching people cringe...), my neck, my fingers (including thumbs) in 2 places, my toes(the middle three in 2 places), and my ankles crack sometimes. It all feels really good, although its become somewhat of a nervous habit for me....

I believe that its small(or large...) bubbles in the fuids in your joints, but I'm not sure. I haven't had any problems yet, myself, though, and I'm not stopping until something goes wrong.
 
Planterz said:
Cracking your spine (back/neck) can indeed be harmful if you do it wrong.
Click to expand...

I either twist myself standing up using a wall for support or I sit down and do the thing where you kind of cross one leg over the other and twist around toward the leg you have bent/crossed over the other, until I'm almost facing backward (but I can twist pretty far; don't try this at home! ;) ) Is this a "correct" way? I never felt any pain from it; I like it. :D

~ashes
 
Thats exactly how I do it, except I don't have to brace myself when I stand, I can just twist and crack it....you can tell I do it too much...
 
Cracking you back is not like popping your knuckles. Popping your knuckles involves stretching the joint, resulting in decreased pressure, which creates a cavition effect. The bubbles thus formed then pop, creating the sound.

No one seems quite sure what cause the popping noise when cracking your back. Some believe it is similar (but not identical) to the effect of popping your knucke's, others say it's from ligaments "snapping" over bone as they move, still others have different explanations. But almost all physicians agree that cracking your own back is not harmful, but having someone else manipulate you to crack it can be.
 
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