The most common apprehension people have on going to a chiropractor is the treatment method or the chiropractic adjustment. People generally call it getting your spine cracked. Although chiropractors have fought for years to get past the term, and to get people to call it an adjustment of the spine, the term still exists. Maybe it shows that people know something about chiropractic. Albeit very little at least they heard the word chiropractic. There was a time that people would say chiro-what? Oh! You mean the doctor that treats feet uh Watchya call it chiropodi-something.

I would like to address it from a direct, head on approach. Now times have changed. Research has come out showing the benefits of chiropractic and these benefits are quoted in medical journals. Main stream medicine is looking at chiropractic as a valid method of treatment and refers regularly to chiropractors. Insurance companies see the benefit of having chiropractors in their networks because it elevates pain for less cost than long term use of medication or surgery. I work closely with MD’s and orthopedic surgeons and receive referrals from them regularly.

On to the topic of the adjustment “The cracking of the spine” there seems to be many people that are afraid of this form of treatment. They believe that it is dangerous or something. There are almost 45,000 chiropractors in the world. It is possible that there are more now but let us use this number. If each chiropractor sees lets say 5 to 10 patients a day. That adds up to one to two million patients a week or 4 to 8 million a month or 48 to 96 million a year. The truth is that the patient average is really about 30 to 40 a day. That is about 324 million spinal adjustments a year. There are millions of chiropractic adjustments made every month if it were dangerous we would all know about it. This is the biggest proof of the safety of the chiropractic adjustment. What is all the fear about?

I know that there is still fear of the unknown so I will describe what an adjustment does and where the feared “crack “ comes from.
First, it is not actually a crack because a crack means or implies that something broke. Nothing breaks. The click sound (and I understand that it sounds loud) does not come from the bone. I have had patients say to their family did you hear that! The answer is usually no. The sound is louder to you because it is inside you. I will use the description by Dr. Kirkaldy-Willis Professor Emetrius of orthopedic medicine in Canada. Dr. Kirkaldy-Willis is an orthopedic surgeon that wrote a book called ‘Managing Low Back Pain’. He describes the click as the unfolding of the tiny meniscus that lies between the spinal joints called the synovial tag. To clarify each spinal joint has a sac that surrounds it. Each synovial Joint is filled with fluid and it is called the synovial sac. There is a fold or a tag that extends from the sac. This lies in the middle of the joint. When this tag becomes folded or crimped it causes the pain and everything we call a subluxation.
Secondly, the adjustment simply applies a force of low amplitude and high velocity in the direction of the folded tag. The tag unfolds and the sound is generated. The adjustment is applied to the joint not the bone. It is virtually impossible to break anything. The fear of an adjustment is understandable but we now can move beyond fear with knowledge. Therefore, if the shear amount of chiropractic adjustments done per day, week, month, or year is not enough to remove your fears, then the understanding of it hopefully will.