Back cracking
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What method do you use for cracking your back?
I have tried the ones mentioned elsewhere on the site but haven't succeeded yet. I can crack my neck, all fingers, and some of my toes. (Best results are from both second toes; not sure why).
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I have three methods:
The first one seems to be the common way to do it: sitting down and twisting to the left or right using my hands for support.
The second way is more of a variation of the first, in which I twist my back while standing. I use my arms to get some momentum.
The third method I haven't really heard of anyone else using, but maybe it will work for you. I do it while standing. Lift one leg up and bend it, so your hand holds it against your chest. Then bend your back (to the right if you're holding your left leg, and vice versa). You should feel some pressure, so keep going until you get the crack. This doesn't always work, but when it does it feels quite good.
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What I do is I place a thick book on the floor, lay down face up on top of the book…I try laying on top of the book so that my upper back is on top of it. Then, slowly, I do a crunch and exhale at the same time do so. Then, I move the book to a new position with respect to my back and repeat....
And now...sorry but
Disclaimer: If you try this, you do so at your own risk and you take full responsibility for doing so. Also, this describes what I do and NOT what you should do. Whether you imitate me or not is your choice. -
Firstly, of course, I can't RECOMMEND any of the things I'm going to mention below – at your own risk, etc etc. But they sure as h**l work
The best way I've found to crack my back involves help from someone else. I lie on the bed, with my head over the corner and arms down either side of the corner. Then I get my gf to place her hands on either side of my spine (pointing out from the spine) and slowly push directly down -- there's a lovely cracking/clicking noise and then the vertebra is back in the right place. Repeat for the entire spine.
I also find that if I roll my shoulders back and then try to push them together (like trying to unfurl wings), then I get satisfying cracks from my upper back.
During long meetings, I've also found that the chairs we have at work are at just the right point on my back that if I just lean back it all cracks.
If you've NEVER been able to get your back to crack, then it's possible that everything is just held in place too strongly. I got to that point after a bad motorcycle accident -- my muscles were semi-permanently tensed and holding the spine slightly wrong. I went to a chiropractor and now it's all much looser and cracks dead easy
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3 ways:
Lower back: Lie down and extend your arms out to the side ("T" shape).
Roll your right leg over your body to the left, keeping your right hand on the ground as best you can and try to touch your right knee to the ground on the left side of your body. Roll left leg over to the right, keeping left hand down.Upper back: requires helper that can lift you, and reach around you.
Stand straight and cross your arms in front of your chest, making an "X", hands to opposite shoulders. Have your helper stand behind you, reach around with both arms in a bear hug. Then they pick you up. Causes your spine to 'stretch' & arch backward a bit, I guess.
Gets great cracks from midway on up. If your helper is not tall enough,
have them stand on the first step of a staircase.Upper back / no helper. Sit on the floor, legs together. Begin to lean back as if to lie down. Pause when the middle of your back is touching the floor; kind of 1/2 way into a crunch. Then just drop the rest of the way to the floor.
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I like to push my shoulders back and together. It's not very loud, but it's quite satisfying.
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Well, I have two ways I crack my back:
The first one produces a quite loud pop, but needs a helper that is taller than you. For me, that helper is my father. He lifts me up relatively (but not extremely) hard, slowly, and that usually produces a few cracks.
The second one does not provide as loud of a pop, and needs you to be sitting in a chair. The top of the chair's back needs to be about level with your middle back. I kind of compress my back against the chair whilst leaning back with my upper back. For me, the perfect chair to do this in is my seat in my Algebra I class. I do not recommend popping your back this way, and have been trying to figure a new way to pop my back. -
If I have a really stiff back, I tend to lie down a couch or equivalent, then lie down sideways, usually to the left side, and if so use my left arm to push the lower back in while I rotate the torso the other way.
A favorite way is to just be standing up, then spread the feet about 2 feet directly apart, and swing a roundhouse like arm movement with the fist one way so the torso swivels, letting the arm pull the torso around to the side. I'll also often do this by pushing in at the small of the back with the other hand while doing it.
I also crack it just by leaning backwards so I'm bent over backwards at at least a 90 degree angle. I've even had my hands touch the floor before. I'll even lean straight backwards like that sometimes and then after a second or so let an arm swing over strong across the body so it effectively turns the back left/right while bent over backwards, getting several cracks. I don't do this too often and have to be careful and deliberate when doing it. Basically this is the same as the above, but while bent over backwards.
I can also crack it just by sitting on a chair, scooting forward in the seat, and pushing in at the small of the back with the left hand to push the midsection forward.
In my life, I can't remember ever having a back injury, and I think exercises like this have contributed to it.
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The second one does not provide as loud of a pop, and needs you to be sitting in a chair. The top of the chair's back needs to be about level with your middle back. I kind of compress my back against the chair whilst leaning back with my upper back. For me, the perfect chair to do this in is my seat in my Algebra I class. I do not recommend popping your back this way, and have been trying to figure a new way to pop my back.
I can vouch for this method… I used to do the same thing back in high school, but have been sadly unable to find any good chairs for doing this since I graduated. This method has sometimes gone sour on me though: occasionally instead of cracking, it feels more like a "creak", and is quite painful. I'm also searching for a better method of cracking my upper back.