Can I adjust myself? Good idea vs Bad idea?
This is one of the most common questions we get from our clients at CostaSpine.
To answer simply, NO, not even chiropractors perform adjustments on themselves. They would go to another expert like Nationwide Chiropractors to have their adjustments.
It is even crazier to think that you or anyone other than a licensed Chiropractor knows how to examine and specifically adjust your spine without hundreds of hours of education and specialized training.
Chiropractors themselves go to other Chiropractors to be adjusted on a regular basis because we know that the nervous system and spine are way too important to play around with and risk injuring.
If you had tooth ache, would you sit in your lounge and use your own drill and get to working on it yourself?
Most people view the adjustment as “cracking” your back and don’t understand the purpose that the adjustment serves.
What is a Chiropractic Adjustment?
A chiropractic adjustment is a specifically targeted manoeuvre to address a dysfunctional spinal segment in the spine i.e. it is not moving through its full range of motion.
When we forcibly move our own spine, it’s near impossible to stay specific to one area. So, what ends up occurring is that we move multiple joints instead.
The challenge when adjusting the spine is to target the most restricted joint to move; which is generally the one that moves last. When you adjust yourself at home you end up leaving yourself with lots of movement of surrounding joints and still having to deal with the dysfunctional joint as it is not specific enough.
It feels great for about 10 to 20 minutes because your body has a massive endorphin release due to your spine moving so much but not long after it’s back to square one and there is no change to your dysfunctional spinal segment.
The spinal vertebra can also be misaligned in several ways. A vertebra can move in 16 different directions, so it is important to know in which direction it has moved before making the adjustment. Chiropractors are trained to determine what direction the vertebra has moved and how to put it in the proper position.
People who crack their own joints have no idea what direction the vertebra has moved, therefore they can be moving it further out of position creating more and more dysfunction.
Prolonged self-adjustment can lead to spinal instability over time. These symptoms can include severe pain on movement, muscle spasms, numbness in the extremities and pain radiating down the legs or arms.
Trying to “adjust yourself” or letting anyone other than a chiropractor adjust your spine, is a lot like drilling your precious teeth with a drill found lying around your home; it’s a very bad idea. Safe and specific care of your spine and nervous system is a Chiropractor’s business and we take it seriously at CostaSpine.
Yours in Healthcare
CostaSpine
