When checking my blog stats, I pay close attention to the phrases people use to find my blog. Oddly enough, “How to adjust your neck like a chiropractor” shows up a lot!
Now, I’m all for using the Internet to learn new things and make life easier, but I’m going to caution you on this one. Under no circumstances do I recommend you attempt to manipulate your own neck.
I’ve already written a similar blog post that explains my reasoning for this and I encourage you to read it: Stop Popping Your Neck!
Chiropractic adjustments (especially those applied to the cervical spine) are not like physical therapy exercises that can be taught to anyone and performed whenever the mood strikes. What’s inside your neck is serious business. You’ve got delicate muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves that can bother you for a long time if disturbed; blood vessels that the brain depends on exclusively for its supply of oxygen; and the creme de la creme of all body parts – your spinal cord – travels right down the center of the darned thing.
So here’s the bottom line… Chiropractors spend years learning how to do this proficiently. None of us are capable of adjusting ourselves! If your neck is bothering you, make an appointment with a reputable chiropractor nearby. Don’t try this at home.
A Chiropractor's Opinion 
3 Comments
I have injured my neck several times through sports. I now have chronic pain, and tightness. When I rotate my neck it sounds like there is broken glass in there. I had to start seeing a chiropractor a few years ago when I pinched a nerve that sent my right rhomboids into spasm, and deadened the impulse through my right arm down to the end of the bicep. It also locked my neck up on that side. My Dr is competent and is a good guy who understands that I am unemployed and have no insurance(I’m a student), so he only charges me $35 to adjust my neck when I need it. The problem is that I need it every day, and I couldn’t even afford to go every week. So I adjust my own neck. I seem to be doing I correctly, as the pain and tension are nothing like they were. But I have noticed the increased mobility that he said would be the beginning of the hyper mobility that leads to serious problems in the future. What does someone in my position do? (Besides getting a job with insurance)
Wes, I strongly discourage you from manipulating your own neck. Trained doctors of chiropractic with decades of clinical experience cannot safely and properly adjust their own necks, so I assure you that you can’t either.
Emphatic warnings aside, “hyper mobility” can show signs of improvement once the structures have been repositioned, rehabbed and strengthened properly. What you’re asking for is a cost-free treatment substitute that can be performed at home to achieve this… unfortunately, I don’t have a solution to that question.
That’s what I figured. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it.