If I chronically crack my back, will this lead to arthritis? There are no current studies demonstrating that chronic cracking of a joint will lead to arthritis.  There are, however, studies that show that chronic cracking of a joint will lead to inflammation in the joint and weakness in the muscles surrounding that joint.

Does my spine go back into alignment with my spine pops?  When your back is cracked it has no direct relationship to the alignment of your spine.  When your spine pops, it is simply a release of gas from the joints.  It is not your bones realigning.  Think about what happens when you crack your knuckles.  Prior to cracking your knuckles, move your fingers around.  Do any of your fingers appear out of alignment?  Certainly not.  If they were, you would be most likely heading for the hospital.  Despite the fact that your knuckles are clearly in alignment, you can still crack them.  That's because you're simply releasing gas from the joint when you distract or separate the joints.  Try to pop your knuckles again within 20 minutes of your initial cracking and you'll find that you're unable to produce any noise.  This is because the gas has not had adequate time to assimilate back into the joint fluid where it can be released again.  The same phenomenon occurs in your back.  Cracking your back has little to do with the alignment of your spine.

Will cracking my back make my problems disappear?  In some cases, cracking your back can indeed significantly reduce your symptoms.  The reason for this is that you can cause muscles to relax that may be in spasm or causing compression on sensitive tissues.  At other times, however, cracking your back will lead to increased pain.  It all depends on what tissues are damaged.  Cracking your back requires all the tissues around the joint to be maximally stretched.  If some of these tissues are injured, then you can count on your pain being increased after having your spine manipulated.  It is important to remember that the spine is made up of the same exact tissues as the rest of your body.  If you sprained your ankle, is there anything that you think could be done to magically make your ankle instantly return to normal?  Of course not.  By the same token you should not expect any particular treatment for your spine to instantly alleviate your symptoms.  Spraining your back is no different than spraining your ankle.  Tissues are damaged and must be given a chance to heal.  Any treatment you receive to your back, or any other body part, has the same goal.  Treatments are designed to remove barriers that may be impeding your body from healing itself.  It is the body that must do the healing not the practitioner.  Until your body heals itself your problems will remain.

If my hip is out of place, will this cause back pain?  I hear many patients state that they have been told that their back pain is related to their hips being out of joint.  This is most likely never the case.  If your hip was dislocated, you would be in 10/10 pain and on your way to the emergency room.  Dislocating a hip requires a tremendous amount of force and results in a tremendous amount of pain.  You would be unable to walk and the hip would need to be manipulated into place immediately by a physician.  The reason your back pain decreases following a manipulation (popping) of the hip is that your hips are connected to your pelvis which in turn connects to your spine.  When your hips receive a strong pull, the force will also be directed to your spine.  This will cause the spine to stretch which produces a similar effect to manipulating or cracking the spine (see above for an explanation of what occurs during a spinal manipulation).

As additional evidence, patients that are diagnosed with hip related back pain are given this diagnosis based on the fact that one leg is shorter than the other.  The leg length diagnosis is given based on external observation (i.e. simply looking at leg lengths visually). This is highly inaccurate.  The only way to truly discern a leg length discrepancy is through x-rays.  The next best method would be to utilize a tape measure on bony prominences between the pelvis and ankle.  Many people are born with differences between their leg lengths.  If a person is born with one leg longer than the other, no amount of manipulation will cause this to change.  This is a good way to make a false diagnosis.  Obviously if one leg is physically shorter than the other one this is perfectly normal for that particular individual and in no way indicates abnormal pathology of any part of the body.