ComScore

Cracking Videos Are the New Pimple Popping Videos. Trust Us.

If you’re anything like me, then you were confounded yet absolutely thrilled when the O.G. Dr. Pimple Popper, Sandra Lee, graduated from internet sideshow to TV main attraction. It made me wonder, Wait, other people addictively watch the surgical removal of dilated pores of Winer before bed? Yes. Yes, they do. So, I’m assuming that my most recent obsession—cracking videos—is also bound to make their way to prime time.

Uh, What Are Cracking Videos?

I’m so glad you asked. Cracking videos are basically just chiropractor sessions uploaded onto the internet. Just as Dr. Pimple Popper films and shares appointments with consenting patients, some chiropractors have taken note and started recording their appointments. That means you can observe an entire patient-doctor session in which a chiropractor assesses a patient’s body and then adjusts them. By adjust, I mean he or she “cracks” the patient in an attempt to realign the musculoskeletal system.  

Ok, That’s Weird. Why Would Anyone Want To Watch This?

I can only speak from my own experience, but I love watching them because I find it relaxing. I don’t know the science behind the whole thing, but maybe watching another person’s pain go away helps me through catharsis osmosis? I don’t know. I just like it. And considering the many, many views these videos rack up, a lot of other people do, too.

Like, How Many Other People Are We Talking?

Dr. Rahim, a chiropractor I follow (whose signature is proclaiming “home run!” after any supremely great crack), has 633,927 subscribers at time of publication and his videos have over 11 million views! There’s also Dr. Mondragon—whose penchant for loud leggings and deep-tissue massage has won me over—who has view rates that also reach into the millions. 

Does Anything Happen Besides Cracking?

Yes, a lot. Different chiropractors practice different techniques. Dr. Rahim, for one, practices the Gonstead Method and uses a Nervo-Scope, a funky 1980s-looking tool, to locate the precise problem area before going to crack-town. Dr. Mondragon does more muscle rolling, massage and even Gua Sha and cupping before she goes to crack-town. No, no one calls it crack-town. I just made up that phrase and who knows? Maybe that will go viral, too.



DaraKatz

Executive Editor, Frazzled Mom, Bravo-Holic

Dara Katz is PureWow's Executive Editor, focusing on relationships, sex, horoscopes, travel and pets. Dara joined PureWow in 2016 and now dresses so much better. A lifestyle...