When we adjust kids each day in our office we typically call the “popping” noise adjustments make as Popcorn. The technical word for that sound is a cavitation. It is made from gas bubbles in the synovial joint being released.
What is important to note is that the adjustment is influencing your Central Nervous System, and the popping noise from the adjustment is not necessary for you to receive a great adjustment. Many of the different adjustments we give do not create a sound. The important objective we use is that we can measure change in your nervous system after a course of several adjustments. Our goal is not to pop you, but to increase your ability to deal and adapt to stress. Better alignment in your body means less stress on your CNS, which allows you to function better and be the best you possible!
Nothing beats the chiropractic adjustment when it comes firing up those brain cells that run and coordinate all of the other 75 trillion cells in your body. This same specifically directed neurological blast from a Chiropractic adjustment is also how we help so many kids with autism or ADHD at Family First. Here is the problem – have you ever seen someone performing “self-adjustments?”
Bad idea. The reason it feels so good is because you are firing off all of those receptors which fires up your brains neurology, and you are also getting a rush of pain relief hormones. The problem is those people that pop their own neck seem to have to keep popping their own necks over and over. The reason self-adjustors keep popping away as they are not correcting a deeper underlying problem. The reason you feel a need to pop your own neck is due to imbalances to your CNS causing muscle asymmetry and subluxations lower down the spine. The short term answer? Try pressing your hand into your forehead against resistance to flex those neck muscles for 10 seconds. This will take away that feeling of pressure and need to crank on your own neck until you can get in for your next adjustment. A proper adjustment will bring your entire spine into alignment so that the deeper issue can heal and resolve without causing more permanent problems.