“Is it bad to crack your back every day?”
I am a 28 year old male. I want to know if it is bad to crack your back every day?
14 Answers
If done incorrectly, yes. It can do more harm than good.
Yes!!!! That’s a great way to sprain strain your neck. Please, don’t do that! Get professional help. Have you ever heard of a chiropractor doing that?! No.
Think!!!! You didn’t go to school for this. Chiropractors who are trained to adjust joints can’t even treat themselves properly, so how could you? Your health is precious. Don’t adjust yourself ever!
Think!!!! You didn’t go to school for this. Chiropractors who are trained to adjust joints can’t even treat themselves properly, so how could you? Your health is precious. Don’t adjust yourself ever!
Yes, it is not healthy to crack your back everyday. If there is a specific problem being treated that is acute treatment everyday can help, but should be gradually tapered off. Cracking your back every day can damage ligaments and tendons long term and lead to arthritic changes and chronic pain.
Dr. Mary Jean Negri
Dr. Mary Jean Negri
Yes it makes your joints hypermobile and unstable.
I would say it could be bad if you force it, but if occurs with stretching there is no problem. If you feel you need to crack it daily, there is an issue you should speak to chiropractor about.
It depends on how you are doing it. If you are getting your spine into a pathologic end range of motion, you could be making your joints hypermobile. Hypermobility could cause instability.
It depends how you do it. If it’s a gentle motion in a normal stretch then it’s totally fine to crack your back every day. It’s a release and the vertebrae are in motion which is a good thing. If you are cracking your back in a more violent/forceful way then it’s counter productive and not recommended to do every day if at all. Also, if you feel pain when you do it or soon afterwards, then it’s definitely not a good idea. Generally, I’d say if it feels good do it and it won’t cause any problems.
While it may provide some temporary relief, long term effects may be worse
That's a great question and it's a very common one. My opinion is that it's not a big deal to crack your own back regularly but, if one side cracks easily, but the other side doesn't, that's a pretty good indicator that one side is too loose and the other side is too tight. Ultimately, joints must move to be healthy but that movement has to be controlled and balanced. That control and balance comes from healthy fascia and healthy muscle neurology. Sick muscles CANNOT move joints properly. I call this the 'extra spinal subluxation'. That basically means that the
neurological settings are off and the muscles that control joint movement are not working as a team. Cracking absolutely DOES NOT fix this adequately. That's why I focus on technical soft tissue work. This is how we get such good results.
Dr. Edward Traum
neurological settings are off and the muscles that control joint movement are not working as a team. Cracking absolutely DOES NOT fix this adequately. That's why I focus on technical soft tissue work. This is how we get such good results.
Dr. Edward Traum
In answer to the question: “Is it bad to crack your back every day?” you should never “crack your back.” As a Doctor of Chiropractic, I take care and adjust lots of backs. I never “crack” them. If you are “cracking” your own back you are loosening the ligaments and making it more unstable. Usually when someone “pops” or “cracks” their own vertebra it feels better for a couple of hours. But then discomfort returns because all that happened is you moved a bone that was already too moveable. That is the wrong bone. When a bone is slightly out of place it is fixated and really stuck. This requires expert care.
If it's your neck, yes, it's bad; it reveals you have a spinal cervical instability.
If you deliberately crack your own back daily, it’s likely to cause some ‘loosening’ of the ligaments that hold your spine together if that’s not already happening. Are you cracking it because if feels good? Do you crack it because you’re in pain? I’d think about strengthening exercises for your spine for the longevity of your health. I like to use Foundation Training. Search ‘lower back workout with Dr. Eric Goodman’ on YouTube. It’s usually the first video after the ads. It’s 11:59 long, you can’t miss it. It’s great for posture, strength, posture and toning up the legs and glutes.
It is not bad to crack your back every day. If you are doing it on your own, you are missing the segment that is actually restricted and only moving the segments which are already moving. It takes a professional to specifically restore movement to the restricted spinal segment.
Over adjusting is something that can occur and you can become hyper mobile. It is never a good idea to self adjust.
