Spinal adjustments have been studied for years as being extremely effective for relieving neck and back discomfort. I’ve had patients come in and say ‘well, usually I just have my wife walk on my back,’ or ‘I crack my own neck.’Trying to relive your pain by “cracking” or adjusting yourself is not a wise idea!Chiropractors have had extensive training on how to analyze the spine and adjust specific spinal misalignments. We are also required to receive 24 hours of continuing education units to stay credentialed. When a person self-manipulates their spine, they are unsure which bones are misaligned and in what direction those bones have misaligned. Sometimes, several bones move during a self-manipulation when only one bone was misaligned and needed to be adjusted. Surprisingly, spinal bones can misalign in a number of ways. Without expert analysis, there is no way to tell exactly how the bone has misaligned, which means there is no way to self-adjust that bone into its proper alignment.One of the proposed dangers of self-adjusting is the overstretching of the muscles and ligaments that support the spine due to excessive force. The repetitive movement and force required to self-adjust can also cause the muscles to become fatigued and impair their ability to protect the spine as they routinely do. This is one of the many reasons why chiropractors spend so much time perfecting their technique, to ensure that an adjustment is given safely and effectively. When it comes to self-manipulation, the overstretching of muscles and ligaments, and the fatigue created within muscles that support the spine is associated with spinal instability. This instability can lead to chronic pain.While the immediate release of self-adjusting can be satisfying initially, the result is not long-lasting. The relief feeling of an adjustment is the release of carbon dioxide gas during the adjustment. But the immediate good feelings are only temporary, because within 15-30 minutes, the gas is reabsorbed and leaves you feeling the same way you did before the self-adjustment. This can create the habitual need to self-manipulate many times throughout the day which again, can lead to hypermobility and instability, ultimately leading to chronic pain. Adjusting only the spinal bones that are misaligned (at a frequency much less than the several times per day seen with self-manipulation) may help address the underlying structural issue causing the discomfort, without creating instability.It is always our recommendation to discontinue all self-manipulations due to the possible dangers, and never let somebody, who is not familiar with the human anatomy, manipulate your spine.