Is It Bad to Crack Your Own Back?

Last week we talked about posture. This week, we’ll talk about something that many people swear by for relief: cracking their back. At this point I'm sure you've all seen the crazy viral videos of chiropractors bending people into a pretzel and then rapidly cracking their backs. It’s become a meme at this point, but is there something to it?

TLDR

• The ‘pop’ or ‘crack’ is a joint sound from gas in the joint capsule, nothing more.
• Hearing a crack/pop vs not doesn’t predict pain relief.
• These manipulations might help some people with chronic low back pain, but the benefit is very small.

What makes the sound?

When you crack a joint, the bony surfaces separate quickly and a cavity forms in the fluid between them. The pop/crack is the result of the rapid pressure change that forms a gas bubble that then pops inside the joint capsule. Researchers watched this happen in real time with MRI while people cracked their knuckles [1]. I personally love to crack my knuckles, I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. In the spine, we have bony prominences at the back of our vertebrae called facets. Each vertebra has them at the top and bottom (superior and inferior facets), and they link together each vertebral level in the spine. Each joint is surrounded by a joint capsule and that’s the structure making the ‘pop’ noise when you crack your back. When we do this, all we really know is that the joint position changed rapidly enough to produce the pop.

Does the pop help?

So these videos that you’ve seen where a chiropractor snaps a person in half, well some of that is spinal manipulation therapy (SMT). A 2025 review of SMT studies found that there were no differences between pain and disability outcomes for different SMT techniques and approaches [2]. But what about the therapies themselves being helpful?

A Cochrane review published this year pooled 76 trials of adults with chronic low back pain [3]. Unfortunately, they found SMT by chiropractors had very low/low certainty evidence (meaning that the studies they could find and review were of low quality) to show reductions in back pain. The jury is still out, but if anything, the effect may be mildly positive when compared to receiving no other treatment. When compared to other conservative treatments for back pain, there was little/no improvement in pain.

Does that mean SMT is useless? No, but in our busy lives, we can only allocate so many hours and dollars. The popping and feelings of release are great, but if I had a time/dollars budget for improving my back pain, I wouldn’t spend it here. One way that you can get this sensation yourself at home (potentially), is performing drills/stretches like the open book stretch. This stretch forces you to rotate through your thoracic spine and open up your chest and shoulders. I sometimes feel a popping sensation in my facet joints when doing open books. It’s a quick drill that you can do daily that only takes a minute. No appointment or cost. Simple. Tip: for greater rotation, straighten your lower leg and hold down your knee of the flexed leg to get a greater stretch when opening up during the drill.

Just to be thorough: don’t go chasing the popping noise. You aren’t doing anything wrong or missing effectiveness if you don’t get a satisfying pop. A study that compared manipulations with and without an audible pop found no evidence that the pop itself improved pain outcomes [4].

Is cracking your back bad for you?

No, not inherently. The gas bubbles inside the joint capsule are harmless. The worrying part is the extreme movements that some people do trying to crack their joints. While I argued against SMT by chiropractors if I had limited resources to tackle back pain, they are trained professionals with extensive anatomical and clinical knowledge that you and your friends don’t have. Please don’t try to recreate what you saw in a chiropractic video with your friends and family. The real risk with cracking a joint is an acute tissue injury or nerve compression from an uncontrolled rapid movement.

To simplify, if you can crack your back with stable, controlled drills like open books or cat-cows, that’s great and safe. I would not recommend forceful ballistic movements chasing the pop because there’s potential for injury. In fact, in the earlier SMT chiropractor studies, there were reports of muscle soreness, stiffness, and acute increases in pain [3]. These are signs of minor tissue trauma, but they should be taken seriously because that minor trauma might become major complications if an untrained friend attempts the SMT on you instead of a chiropractor.

What about arthritis? I was told that cracking my knuckles as a kid would give me arthritis. Thankfully this is a myth because I didn’t stop. There’s no link between cracking your knuckles and osteoarthritis [5]. Side note, there’s an Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine for unusual or trivial scientific achievements, and a man won it by cracking the knuckles on his left hand at least twice per day while never cracking his right hand for 60 years. They took x-rays of both his hands and there were no signs of arthritis in either of his hands, and no differences between his hands. Anyways, you get the point, the cracking is fine, just don’t snap your fingers or spine in half trying to get the satisfying pop.

Also, if you have a known disc problem, or if you currently have a highly sensitive back, it’s best to avoid rapid twisting and opt for gentle mobilizations.

What I'd actually do

Focus on gentle movement rather than trying to crack your back.

1. Try out open books, cat-cows (slow and controlled, not too far into cat or cow if your back is flaring up).
2. Try spinal decompression techniques like the 90-90 position or bench/counter decompressions discussed here in previous newsletters.
3. Walk freely and swing your arms. The rhythmic action of walking and swinging the arms provides gentle motion and loading variety to your spine.
4. Get working on your strength and rebuild capacity. You already knew that was coming if you’re a long-term reader. Catch up on it here.

If cracking suddenly causes sharp pain, or you're getting new leg symptoms, stop trying to reproduce it and speak with a clinician.

As always, have a great weekend.

Best,

Mitch

Want to know which back pain pattern matches you? Take my free 2-minute quiz and find out.

References

[1] Kawchuk et al., 2015. Real-time visualization of joint cavitation. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119470

[2] Nim et al., 2025. The effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy in treating spinal pain does not depend on the application procedures. doi:10.2519/jospt.2025.12707

[3] de Zoete et al., 2026. Spinal manipulative therapy for adults with chronic low back pain. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD008112.pub3

[4] Moorman and Newell, 2022. Impact of audible pops associated with spinal manipulation on perceived pain. doi:10.1186/s12998-022-00454-0

[5] deWeber et al., 2011. Knuckle cracking and hand osteoarthritis. doi:10.3122/jabfm.2011.02.100156

Disclaimer: this content is educational only and does not constitute medical advice. See a practitioner if you suspect serious spinal trauma from a fall or accident, or if you experience any of the following red flag symptoms: loss of bowel or bladder control, numbness in the groin or saddle area, rapidly worsening leg weakness, back pain with fever or feeling generally unwell, or unexplained weight loss with back pain.