Often the “scariest” part for patients is having their neck manually adjusted. I will cover a few topics here to put your mind at ease. For starters you should NEVER have anybody except a licensed practicing chiropractor adjust your neck. The same goes for the rest of your spine, yep the bear hugs are bad…could break a rib. The cracking sound that you hear when you have an adjustment is called a cavitation. It is the sound of a synovial joint opening, therefore releasing pressure. The actual work is done with the correct line of drive. Meaning I move the bone from point A to point B, this is where the years of training to be a chiropractor comes in really handy (pun intended) so the adjustment is beneficial.
It is virtually impossible to “break” somebody’s neck with a manual adjustment. Now we are talking normal anatomy with healthy bones here. Osteoporotic, children, frail, illness…should have a less forceful adjustment. Again years of chiropractic training teaches us that. It has been calculated to take up to 1600 Newtons of force, which is roughly 400 pounds of pressure (various studies). You will be hard pressed to find a chiropractor that can push 400 pounds with one finger, how we adjust these bones.
And if this whole notion of neck cracking freaks you out there is a great answer. Dr. Myers can use an Impulse Adjusting Instrument. It is a small hand held spring loaded tool that puts a small tap that is faster than manual adjustments, therefore, is more gentle. This is perfect for abnormal anatomy, children, elderly or just those patients that don’t like all that cracking. This is your healthcare, you should enjoy going to see the chiropractor and should have a doctor that is willing to treat you in a way that is comfortable to you. Give us a call we will make sure you are happy.