Question
I am studying Therapeutic Massage  at University and would like to know the
reason why it is not good to click and manipulate your own neck and back for
my assignment. What damage would occur?  Thanking you.

Answer
Dear Roseanne,

This is an excellent question.  Clicking and popping noise from a joint is a natural phenomenon.  It can also be elicited by moving or stretching a joint, e.g. cracking a knuckle.  Joints that are stretched or moved quickly will also make popping sounds.  Lastly, the popping/cracking of joints can occur more frequently in certain disease states such as with arthritis or after injuries. This is called "crepitus," and it is considered a pathologic popping/cracking sound.  When you stretch or pull on a healthy joint, it can make a pop.  Often it will feel good because it is stimulating to the joint.  Looking at it from another angle: if a joint is forced to remain immobile, it will eventually ache, and movement is stimulating and cause it to feel good.  As well, if you ever bang your head against something, or whack your elbow against a hard surface, it surely feels better to rub the skin and move the body part around as opposed to standing still and enduring the pain.  This is because the movement stimulates mechanoreceptors and their attached sensory nerves.  These nerve signals are fast, and they jam the circuits in your spinal cord, preventing the pain signals from connecting.  The nerves that conduct pain (A-delta and type-C) fibers are slow and they get beat by the fast nerve signals.  The volume of nerve information to the brain is mostly from movement stimulation and not pain stimulation, and thus you don't feel the pain as bad.  Now that you understand that popping sounds are just sounds, and that joint movements are stimulating, understand this: a joint that is fixated and has lost its segmental movement or joint-play is essentially impossible to release on your own.  When you manipulate your own neck or back you are sloshing around joints that already move well or are minimally fixated.  They, too, will make noise and feel stimulating for a short time.  You can't get at the really stuck ones. That takes skilled intervention.  People who are compelled to self crack on a frequent basis often are left with the constant desire to do so.  The stimulation of already moveable joints is short-lived, and the offending/stuck joint segment remains the driver of symptoms.  I teach "self neck crackers" to exercise and stretch, and to avoid the desire to twist their own necks.  There have been cases of transient ischemic attacks and cerebrovascular accidents from forcefully self-cracking.  In the lower back, twisting and forcing pops/cracks can also provoke symptoms, and it, too, never gets at the stuck, offending joint.   The thoracic spine is stabilized by ribs, and is less likely to be damaged by joint manipulation, and this is a safer region for people to attempt popping/cracking/self-manipulation, but again is not a substitute for professional care when there is a problem.  As a massage therapist, when you feel your client's spine and find a very tight spot, consider referring them to a chiropractor for professional intervention.  

I hope this was helpful.