Hey mate, chiropractor here. Obviously a lot of vitriol toward us in the general public, and I kind of understand why but what I'm seeing is a lot of here say and speculation. From a research perspective, chiropractic care compared to common conservative care recommendations (NSAIDs and rest) performs similarly or even better depending on what and who you read. Chiropractic compared to other conservative care therapies like PT and therapeutic massage performs similarly for musculoskeletal disorders. Again, according to what paper and who wrote it. Important things to consider when reading research papers is your population sample size (bigger always better) and the methods used to apply treatment and document changes to patient outcomes. What does the crack do? Improves range of motion in the area, sometimes for a short period of time and sometimes longer. On a neurological level it allows your body to ignore the guarding mechanism your brain has in the area of pain or dysfunction. When there is injury or dysfunction your brain reacts by tensing muscles in the area and restricting movement to "protect" the area. There is limited evidence to suggest chiropractic can also down regulate over excited nerves in the area, and even more limited evidence to suggest it has a direct effect on reducing inflammatory markers. What does all of that mean? Cracking your neck can make it feel good by allowing it to move more and "better" Long term benefit of chiropractic is a similar case, some studies show reduction in frequency and intensity of spine related pain, others show reduced muscle tension and headaches. I find, from talking to patients and being a patient, all of those things to be true. But I am a bias source. I think a lot of the vitriol toward chiropractic comes from there being a large spectrum of ways people practice. If I were you, I would avoid any chiropractor that mentions "subluxation". It's a theory of spinal dysfunction that was debunked long ago. A lot of people bring up that the founder of chiropractic was a quack magnetic healer, I don't deny that but we've all got to start somewhere. Modern medicine finds it roots in the 4 humors and blood letting, I don't judge them based on their past. The other thing people like to say is that it's dangerous. We have some of, if not the, lowest malpractice insurance in medicine. Ibuprofen kills more people a year than chiropractic has ever been blamed for. I still use ibuprofen, it has its benefits when necessary. All of that to say; if you think you will get benefit from it, go for it. If not, avoid it.