Your joints DO NOT go out of alignment, your discs DO NOT slip, and therapists DO NOT put them back into place!

If I had a dollar for everyone who has come to see me saying ‘my spine is out of alignment, please can you put it back?’…well!

This is simply false information that has either been fed to you by a therapist who can’t be bothered telling you the facts and explaining things in simple, easy-to-understand terms OR a false perception that you have when your back has gone into spasm. The second reason I can understand your confusion.

Well, let me explain and hopefully this will settle the matter once and for all.

YOUR SPINAL JOINTS DO NOT MOVE OUT OF PLACE AND YOUR DISCS DO NOT SLIP.

If you have had some form of injury or dysfunction to your back or neck, the surrounding muscles may go into spasm and pull the spine slightly in order to defend the area, preventing further injury. This is the normal process of inflammation, BUT your spinal joints do not go out of place. They are held together by really strong ligaments, and fascia and surrounded by over 464 muscles which simply will not let this happen.

It may feel like they do because if the joints on one side of your spine are sprained (injured) and therefore do not move as well as they should, and the surrounding muscles spasm to protect it, movements in that area will be restricted.  This may feel like they go out of place but they do not…they cannot, unless there is significant severe trauma such as a motor vehicle accident or severe fall.

When a therapist such as a Chiropractor or Osteopath or Physiotherapist manipulates, (clicks, adjusts, cavitates, thrusts) your spinal joints (they can manipulate nearly any other joint of your body too), they are not putting the joint back into place.  A few things happen during this process, but putting it back into place is not one of them.  

REMEMBER, if the joints do not go out of place, then they cannot be put back into place. The joints are restricted, either due to acute or chronic muscle spasm or guarding, a reduced range of normal range of motion occurs in that specific joint.

Firstly, discs. They are a soft, yet very strong fibrocartilage (about the consistency of a rubber mouthguard). They are encased in-between the vertebral joints by very strong ligaments, muscles and fascia. They simply cannot slip out of place. They can tear, and bulge which can push on nerves etc, but they DO NOT and CANNOT slip, and most definitely CANNOT be put back into place. Spinal manipulations DO NOT address intervertebral discs directly and any manipulations to a traumatised disc should be approached with extreme caution. The manipulations performed to the spinal joints are only directed at the facet joints (the symmetrical 'back joints' of the back - one on either side between each vertebrae).

During the process of a HVLA (high velocity, low amplitude) technique used by Osteo’s etc, the joint in question (that is about to be manipulated) is put into a position that will specifically focus on that particular joint. This takes years of training and therefore should not be performed by untrained people.

Then a short and sharp controlled movement is applied which releases the restriction in the joint.  What also occurs is trickery to the brain.  During that short-sharp movement, the person’s brain does not realise that the therapist is going to do a controlled and limited range movement, their brain (in a micro-second), doesn’t want the surrounding muscles to become damaged, so releases the spasm/guarding those muscles.

This is why usually, instant movement is improved and pain is decreased.  The click sound is simply a by-product.  It is a suction sound within the sealed joint that is filled with fluid.

To see an example of how this occurs, join my free Facebook community page (CLICK HERE TO JOIN AND SEE THE VIDEO) to see the video that I will post, on Monday 16th Jan 2023.

Also, my online program - 3-Steps to a Better Back - is due to start in mid-Feb (one month away).  Click this link to book a free 20-min chat with me to see if you are the right fit to join. - BOOK A CALL WITH ME