A couple weeks ago I visited a chiropractor for the first time. I had no idea what to expect, and honestly, I’ve always kind of viewed chiropractic medicine as a bit of a “quack” science. I thought “aren’t they just cracking my back and neck? I can do that on my own.”
Well, it turns out it’s a little more complex than that. Yes, they do a lot of back cracking (which is my favorite part so far), but a chiropractor is really targeting ligaments that pull bones–specifically the spine and neck–into place and getting those ligaments to pull with equal force from all directions to keep things lined up. The chiropractor also targets bone positioning to maintain proper spine and neck curves and bone alignment.
The chiropractor that I’m seeing performs an initial review that includes x-rays of the neck and spine as well as an electronic scan of the back that provides better detail about each bone in the neck and spine as well as the ligaments pulling on each vertebra.
So enough pretending to know what I’m talking about. Below are the two x-rays. The first is my lower back and the second is my neck. Green line = Good. Red line = Not So Good (aka, mine).
