Perhaps you’ve cracked your own back a hundred times, or let one of your friends crack your back instead. It gives you that immediate feeling of relief, but have you ever noticed you need it cracked again just moments later? This is because you need an expert to handle the adjustment. While many people think it’s OK to adjust themselves, they’re wrong. The following explains more about adjusting yourself.
Putting Your Vertebrae In the Proper Position
When you crack your own back, you probably don’t think twice about the position your vertebrae should be in when the job is complete. Each vertebra should be in a specific position, and when they become misaligned, they should be put back into the proper place. When someone adjusts themselves, they have no direction on what they’re doing. They’re simply popping their neck to feel that immediate relief, but they could be pushing the vertebra further out of position. A chiropractor has skills and techniques that ensure your vertebrae are put into the proper position.
Allowing Someone With Experience to Handle the Job
Not even a chiropractor will adjust him or herself because the right amount of pressure needs to be applied to the affected area. If there’s not enough pressure, you won’t fix the issue. If there’s too much pressure, you could overcorrect the issue or cause more damage. When you perform an adjustment on yourself, you simply can’t apply the right amount of pressure. When an experienced chiropractor needs an adjustment, he or she turns to another chiropractor so the job can get done correctly. You should do likewise.
Understanding Why It Feels Good
You might start to wonder why cracking your back or neck feels so good if you’re doing it wrong. When you crack a joint, there are endorphins released into your body. These are your feel-good hormones. They’ll stay in the bloodstream for up to 20 minutes, which is why you feel good for that period of time. When the endorphins wear off, you want that relief again, so you crack your back again. Chiropractors offer actual correction of an issue, so while they still release those endorphins into the bloodstream, they also relieve pressure and tension, which results in lasting pain relief.
Contacting a Chiropractor to Schedule an Appointment
Under no circumstance should you complete a chiropractic adjustment on yourself. When you are experiencing subluxation, contact a chiropractor, like from AmeriWell Clinics, to schedule an appointment.