The tendency to want to crack your own neck or your knuckles is a common occurrence in many people who feel that their body needs it to happen and it becomes an everyday habit. The crack they’re experiencing can be explained through knowing the mechanics of joints and the synovial fluid surrounding it. The synovial fluid surrounds and lubricates the joint and is made up of a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. During a manipulation/crack, the forces separate the articular surface of the joint which leads to a reduction in pressure. This pressure change causes small cavities from the gases within the fluid which creates the cracking/popping noise that everyone can hear.
The real question is, for what reason do we actually crack our own joints on a daily basis?
The majority of respondents will say because it feels good. But even though this might feel really good at the time, cracking your neck can have multiple adverse effects to your body’s health. Within the neck region are many delicate regions which include nerves, bone, muscles and blood vessels.
Manipulating your own neck requires a high amount of force to produce the desired crack and the specificity of the segment that is being adjusted is variable, meaning that it is impossible to know exactly what segment is causing the cracking noise. In actual fact when you hear the crack you could be misaligning a joint that was previously in the right position.
Over time, this habit can lead to detrimental effects on your body as it can cause ligaments to loosen, become hypermobile and increase the risk for developing serious complications like osteoarthritis or perpetual instability. Other complications can be nerve irritation that can lead to headaches and a sense of dizziness.
When it comes to the cracking of the neck, other region of the spine or extremities, you should leave it to a trained health care professional (chiropractor) who is able to carefully and precisely manipulate the joint back to its normal position.
At Lakeside Chiropractic we have multiple chiropractors that have 5 years of university training, plus many years clinical experience, firstly to ensure it is safe to do so and secondly done in the right direction on a specific segment.
We’re located in Perth’s northern suburb Joondalup and have many visitors from neighbouring suburbs including Greenwood, Warwick, Gnangara, Ocean Reef, Edgewater, Woodvale and Kingsley. We have HICAPS onsite, so you can claim from your Health Fund on the day of treatment. Health Funds available for claiming include Medibank, HBF, Bupa, CU Health, NIB, Police Health Fund, GMF, SGIO, if yours is not listed please ask. If you would like to schedule in an appointment you can contact us on 93000095 to speak with our trained staff or book online at our website www.lakesidechiro.com.au.
We look forward to hearing from you shortly and treating your condition in the quickest time possible.
