Hey Val, do you know the best way to adjust ("crack") my lower back/pelvis/hips without the help of a chiropractor? I'm incredibly stiff lately and it's awful.
Well, I’m sure everyone is different, but here’s a couple of things that I do. Please keep in mind that I’m not chiropractor or any medical person at all, these are just personal tricks I’ve used over the years.
Hang in a yoga hammock upside down. (I assume you don’t have one of these, so I won’t go into this too much)
Lay on my back on the floor, bring my knees up toward my chest and then let them fall to one side while keeping my shoulders on the floor (or as close as possible). Breathe. Stay here and try to relax. Close your eyes and actually say the words ‘relax, let go’ and picture your back relaxing. Keep breathing slowly and deeply as you try to release the tension. HERE is a link to a yoga site that goes into more detail about the pose.
You can also do a seated twist, holding in the same way, breathing into the tightness and trying to coax you muscles to relax. It may sound silly, but actually saying the words out loud and telling your body/muscles what to do, helps. Here is a page that talks about this pose.
One thing that I do that really makes my back ‘pop’ on it’s own is to lay on my back on the bed with legs extended (for some reason this doesn’t work well on the floor, it works better on a soft surface for me), and rotate my legs/feet inward toward each other from the hip. I feel a deep stretch across my hips. Again, I breathe into it and hold it as long as I can or until I feel a pop. If it doesn’t pop, then I relax a moment and try again. I can usually get my low back to pop this way, but sometimes it takes a few tries.
Also, icing your back and taking some ibuprofen will help with the inflammation and make it easier for it to move. Walking also really helps my back feel better and loosens it up so it will pop more easily.
As I said, everyone is different and I’m sure a chiropractor wouldn’t condone doing anything without them, but in my experience, a chiropractor can put my back out just as easily as they can fix it. But, if my back is very bad, I can rarely pop it enough on my own to fix it, I need the chiropractor to adjust me.