April 25, 2025

By Katie Arnold-Ratliff

Video: drjustinlewis, drralphnap, thejointchiro

“Okay, now let that shoulder just drop in there,” the chiropractor says in the Instagram reel — one among many that show up in my feed. He stands on a pedestal that puts his thigh at the patient’s shoulder, holding the latter’s head in the crook of his elbow. You know it’s coming and then it does: a startlingly rapid movement of the head accompanied by an equally startling crack. (As in many of these videos, a tiny mic on the patient’s collar captures the auditory money shot.) The chiropractor has just performed a cervical adjustment. This time, the patient freezes, smiling, but other times, they gasp, or groan, or sputter, or curse, or gently protest, or, curiously, laugh. There’s often visible shock in their expression, even a momentary prickle of alarm. The theory behind cervical adjustments is that the soft tissues that hold your neck’s vertebrae in their proper place can move due to injury or poor posture or repetitive motion, aggravating the nerves that surround them. Improve joint motion in the neck with one swift crack, and you can ostensibly remove the pain. Many of the freshly cracked crow about the relief they feel. Twenty-nine percent of those who see a chiropractor call their treatment “very effective,” while another 38 percent find it “somewhat effective.” ”That’s the one I came for,” says the patient in that reel.

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