Cracking in the back / back pain

Cracking in the back may be relaxing for those affected, or may be the beginning of painful back pain. But what's right in the back and cracking is dangerous? Does cracking cause permanent damage or is it more like "loosening" and thus completely normal? This article deals with these questions.

Contents:
Crack in the back
Synonyms
Symptoms of cracking in the back
Causes of backbones
Damage due to cracking in the back
Restraint on backbones
Treatment with cracking in the back

Synonyms

Cracking in the back, joint cracking in the back, back pain, cracking back, low-back single-tone distortion, tectonic fixation in the lower back, HVLA back, dog technique, back rest, jump out vertebrae, jump in vertebrae, bone rubbing in the back, cracking in the back, cracking in the back Back, tendon skip in the back, joint cracking in the back, cracking noise in the back, restraining the back, dislocate the back, vertebral fracture.

Symptoms of cracking in the back

Cracking in the back can occur on one or both sides of the back in all regions. The noise itself can be a clearly audible cracking, but also a pop or a grating, or Schnalz- noise. For example, many people complain of cracking on the middle back when they move the shoulder blades - but when listening carefully they are more likely to be a rubbing noise. As varied as the sounds are, so are the variability of the sensations: some people find it as if something skips ("tendon, ligament or muscle") or "jumps in" (or "jumps out"), while others feel have something jammed loose again.

The cracking can be felt deep in the back or superficial. Many sufferers of cracking in the back describe that it regularly cracks during morning stretching and stretching in the back or when getting up after a long sitting or when bending forward. However, this is usually described as painless and sometimes even relaxing or relaxing. If there is back pain or stiffness in the back after getting up, many people say it's better after the cracking. Partly the cracking in the back can occur in fairly short time intervals and then over longer periods not so irregular and symptomless. Pain in connection with cracking in the back usually occurs in time following the cracking noise.

Causes of backbones

The wildest theories are circulating about what exactly happens in the back and what the causes and consequences are.
A common theory to hear and read is that lactic acid bubbles or gas bubbles burst or escape in the muscle or joint in a jerky motion. In the same direction are attempts to explain that emanate from a negative pressure, a pressure equalization or a pressure adjustment as when opening a jam jar in the joint. In the popularity of the explanations ranks immediately after the theory of the skipping of a tendon or a band. The tendons or ligaments should therefore jump over each other or over a bone protrusion.

The third place probably takes the explanation that a joint jumps out of its "socket" or "mount". This is often referred to by sufferers as "a vertebra jumps out" or "an intervertebral disc jumps out" and associated by them with a herniated disc. At the same height of the awareness scale is the approach that the cracking is caused by a hyperacidity in the tissue or in the muscles by too much coffee, too massive permanent sugar intake or by a vitamin deficiency, or a lack of minerals.

Other theories include a lack of synovial fluid that causes bone rubbing or cartilaginous activity, or jerky movements that cause flow of synovial fluid or, at the same time, leakage of carbon dioxide.
In addition, one often hears more of descriptions such as tense muscles, whiplash, one-sided posture, over-exertion, unrestrained muscles or lack of fine coordination. Many sufferers also wonder if cracking in the back is associated with illnesses such as rheumatism, degenerative diseases of the spine such as spondylosis or spondylarthrosis, inflammatory diseases of the spine such as spondylitis, spondylodiscitis or ankylosing spondylitis, gout, osteoporosis or bone fractures. Some sufferers say that they inherited the cracking in the back, through phrases like "that's what my dad did".

With so many different and widely differing hypotheses, it is understandable that it is unclear what consequences the cracking in the back can have.

Here the reports differ widely that the cracking is harmful for the joints, for the intervertebral discs, for the tendons and ligaments, or "totally harmless". That's why it is said to be harmful, according to the most widespread explanations, because it "strips out" the ligaments or the joint capsules or "overstretches" the tendons. This, in turn, the joints are permanently unstable and the power should subside. It is also often claimed that the cracking in the back to microfiber damage (microtrauma) or permanently to consequential damage such as water retention or wear on the joints should come.

Damage due to cracking in the back

A fundamental problem in medicine is that most therapists are unaware that they are working with models. These models, which should provide a basis for practical work (ie therapeutic intervention), are thus only approximations to reality. What the reality looks like in a complicated biological mechanism such as the human body can be partially assumed only on the basis of the therapeutic effects.

Thus, when a physician, alternative practitioner, osteopath, chiropractor, or FDM therapist presents his explanations to the patient for questions about cracking in the back, these are usually explanations that a therapist effectively does, for example. for visualization in his work, or which he has "worked" himself through the observed effects in practice. The therapist a door further explained it may be quite different again.

The internist and allergist dr. Donald L. Unger of Thousand Oaks, Calif., Was tired of these nebulous theories, of having to constantly hear from his mother that finger-clicking was harmful and could cause arthritis. For his sixty-year self-study of the effects of finger-clicking, he was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize at Harvard University in 2009. He left the finger joints on the left side to crack twice a day for decades, leaving the right side unmolested. Investigations revealed that he had neither left nor right arthritis.

Raymond Brodeur, a US engineer, Doctor of Chiropractic and Osteopath, once claimed that a gas bubble is visible after cracking in the joint at the Michigan State University (MSU) Ergonomics Research Laboratory (ERL, LLC). According to Brodeur's theory, this comes about if, due to rapid pulling, the joint capsule expands and the pressure within the joint has to be reduced. The gases change to the bubble shape, allowing the capsule to expand further. Then it takes time to Brodeur, until the gases dissolve again and the cracking can be triggered again. For the sometimes enormous volume of cracking in such a small gas bubble Brodeur has no satisfactory explanation - as he admits himself. But it also does not explain why sometimes the cracking can be triggered several times in a row.

According to Brodeur's statement researchers should have found with vibration meters that the rashes occurring at the moment of cracking are very low. Other studies have revealed, according to Brodeur, that cracking is actually two sounds. The first sound could therefore be the dissolved gas in the synovial fluid, the second following when the capsule expands. Furthermore, it could be tendons that run over the joints and slightly change their course of a flexion or extension in the joint and generate a noise when returning to the neutral position. Because of the largely presumed statements Brodeurs, but he can not make any definitive statements on the harmfulness of cracking. So there are no scientifically proven findings on the harmfulness of cracking in the back.

Restraint on backbones

A variety of manual procedures, such as chiropractic or osteopathy, rate the audible click in the back as an indicator of a successful technique. In the vernacular this is usually called "Einrenken". In the therapeutic jargon it is called "manipulation", "HVLA technique", "thrust", dog technique (on the thoracic spine), "Lumbar Roll" (lower back), "Kirksville crunch" or "impulse technique" called. HVLA stands for "High Velocity, Low Amplitude". In these techniques, the therapist creates a tactile barrier by advancing the back to a certain position, which is NOT the limit of movement, by the way. A short impulse overcomes this barrier, causing the audible click sound to occur.

Some therapists or therapeutic directions suggest that the small vertebral joints are blocked and the technique briefly loosens the articular surfaces - what you can hear, according to these theories, is the ingress of air, gas, or the release of the meniscus or joint capsule. Since the build up of the barrier and the triggering of the click sound are within the normal limits of movement of the joints and the surrounding tissues, it is more than unlikely that such techniques or the resulting cracking in the back will "overstretch" the capsules or ligaments.

The practicing in Canada Swiss researcher Dr. Walter Herzog presented his studies at the 2009 International Fascia Research Congress (FRC) in Amsterdam, which showed that less stress was placed on the carotid artery during manipulation of the cervical spine than with normal rotation of the head. According to the Fascial Distortion Model (FDM) of the US Osteopath and Emergency Physician Stephen Typaldos, D.O. If the "plop sound" or "crackle sound" is a release of the so-called Faltfaszien or so-called tectonic fixations on the joints.

Faltdistorionen represent a three-dimensional deformation of the joints close to the joints in the view of the FDM. Due to these distortions, the joint is no longer protected against compressive or tensile forces because the fascia can no longer completely fulfill its tasks. Depending on the compressive or tensile forces which have caused the deformation, a distinction is made between unfolding and single-fold distortions. Typaldos had observed in patients that they complained of pain deep in the joint without restriction of movement. This contradicts the usual model of a "joint blockage", which is always accompanied by a restriction of movement.

When patients often "crack their throats" and experience relaxation or a feeling of relief, the fascistic distortion model is based on a so-called tectonic fixation. Those affected complain of stiffness and immobility in the back, but without pain. The fascia surfaces are considered fixed and should have lost their lubricity. Techniques for treating tctonic fixation, where the crack in the back is intentional, serve to loosen and re-lubricate the sliding surfaces.

Treatment with cracking in the back

If cracking occurs without pain or stiffness in the back, very few people will seek the help of a doctor or alternative practitioner. In most cases, other noticeable symptoms must first be added. In acute cases, those affected orthopedic usually, if no evidence of serious structural backgrounds, such as a fracture or herniated disc present, supplied with an injection with analgesic, muscle-tonic and / or anti-inflammatory agents. Also widely used in orthopedic or emergency occupational groups are methods such as chiropractic, chiropractic or, in the meantime, also the fascial distortion model, which treat the symptoms with manual manipulation if necessary. Classical naturopathic treatments include, for example, cupping, where glasses create a negative pressure and thus increased blood flow, and neural therapy, where injections of local anesthetics are harmonized at the affected and adjacent points.

From the point of view of the fascial distortion model, the same force must be therapeutically applied to the affected tissue during a folding distortion, as was the case at the triggering moment. For a tectonic fixation, the techniques used to loosen the gliding surfaces are the first step in correcting them. Afterwards, mostly pumping techniques or pumping aids like the Masterplumber or cupping glasses are used. (Tf)