You have seen it many times. One friend is lying on his stomach and the other is walking on his back. Or, you’re sitting in class, and the kid across from you grabs his chin and pushes it back against his shoulder, resulting in lots of bumps and cracks. People crack their knuckles. They have friends give them bear hugs from behind and lift them off the ground to break their backs. Some people even put their knees on a friend’s spine and pull their shoulders back to break their backs. These things may feel better for a while, but are not good for you in the long run.
If you have been to a chiropractor, you will notice that your back and neck also crack during the adjustment. Common sense will tell you that if a chiropractor undergoes extensive education and training to do this for money, you shouldn’t let your friends do it. Bones erupt and crack when they shift in a certain way, and the sound you hear is the result of gas being released in the synovial fluid of your joints. Once you’ve broken your neck, back, fingers, etc., you can’t break them again right away because you have to wait for the gas to return to the synovial fluid.
If you are someone who breaks bones a lot, you may notice that you feel the “need” to crack them to feel better. However, the more you break your own bones and joints, the more long-term damage you do. Think about how people crack their necks or fingers. They bend it backwards, forwards, or sideways in ways they don’t seem to be supposed to. This is because making your joint pop means pulling it out of its normal mobility scale.
When you fracture or break your back or neck, you pull your ligaments and muscles out of their normal range of mobility. When your muscles are stretched like this, they feel better, which is why you feel relieved afterwards. Your muscles are what hold your ligaments together, and when you move your body that way, they stretch, which means the muscles will immediately tighten to hold the ligaments in place again.
When your friends manipulate your body like this, they can cause sprains or strains. A sprain is an injury to your ligaments, and a strain is an injury to your muscles. One wrong move and they can really hurt you.
Chiropractors must go through years of training to be allowed to manipulate their patients. They study all the different parts of the spine and how to move them without hurting their patients. If you want your back and neck to be properly cared for, you’ll need to get along with a chiropractor. These types of appointments can even be covered by health insurance.
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