Research shows a gas (in this case, nitrogen), which is normally dissolved into the surrounding tissues of the spine, rushes in to fill the partial vacuum created when the joint surfaces are slightly separated.

Another example of this phenomenon would be the “pop” you hear when you remove the cork from a champagne bottle. The CO2 in the champagne rushes out of the bottle when the cork is removed. This phenomenon is called “cavitation.” It is this cavitation that is the cause of the noise.

Not all chiropractic adjusting techniques produce the popping noise we associate with “cracking our knuckles.” In fact, some chiropractic adjustments use little force and thus produce no sound. Others may use adjusting instruments, such as the activator technique, and others may use tables.

This question is often asked of doctors of chiropractic because people associate the cracking or popping of one’s neck with a chiropractic adjustment. The two are not the same thing.

If a person has a desire to pop his neck or back, its usually because a part of his spine is fixated or jammed, causing another part to move too much and pop a lot, sometimes by itself. It’s the jammed or fixated part that must be properly adjusted by a doctor of chiropractic, so that the rest of the spinal column will stop being hyper-mobile and noisy.

Many do approve of Chiropractic treatment. However, some are simply uninformed about the well-researched benefits of chiropractic care. In fact, the spinal adjustment (called “manipulation” by many practitioners) is the most-researched health care procedure, and the best-validated one in all of medical literature.

The longer your spine has been functioning incorrectly, the more your muscles, ligaments, vertebra and delicate nerve will have adapted to this distorted function. To correct this damage and restore proper function to your spine this will take a series of adjustments to accomplish this. (Does it take one tightening to a persons braces to straighten their teeth.

Chiropractors have an exemplary safety record. Adjustments have no side effects as with prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, and surgery. In fact, you are more likely to be struck by a bolt of lightning than have a problem due to Chiropractic Care. Statistics show that Chiropractic Care is about twice as effective and half as expensive as other forms of therapy for spinal pain.

For over 100 years chiropractic patients have seen the wonderful benefits of care, that is now being proven through scientific research. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has identified that spinal adjustments to the low back is the only recommended intervention whose benefits included symptom relief and functional improvement.

There are many more studies showing the benefits of chiropractic care for headaches, neck pain, acid reflux, dysmenorrhea, ear infections, infantile colic and many more.