By Dr. Heather Wright, BC DC CCEP
Many times when you are adjusted in the office, you don’t hear a “pop” with the re-alignment. I am sometimes asked if that means it didn’t “go in.” My reply is simple- the pop doesn’t mean anything as far as the adjustment itself being effective. It is simply a release of nitrogen gas that may- or may not- be accumulated in the joint space. Since with our techniques, we work the joints back in rather than forcing them to move in one big motion, we just don’t get that instantaneous release of gas that you may see with other techniques. When we do get it, many times the sounds of the table moving covers it up.
Don’t take my word for it though! According to a very recent study published in the medical research journal JMPT (Vol. 34, Issue 1. January 2011,) when neck pain patients were evaluated pre- and post- adjustment, there is was found no correlation to a reduction of pain or overall nervous system response to the adjustment when a “pop” is heard versus when a pop is not heard. The results are essentially the same.