Videos of people having giant spots popped have been gathering legions of viewers for years but now another type of therapy is drawing fans online.
Chiropractors who crack people’s necks and backs into place are racking up millions of views on their sometimes grotesque videos.
Growing numbers of people take joy from watching therapists yank people’s heads to the side and crunch their ribs and shoulders.
Fans of the trend say the videos are ‘addictive’, ‘more watchable than Love Island’, and ‘better than porn’.
And the satisfaction of watching people’s aches and pains magicked away with a snap of the back is enough for one video to have garnered a massive 13 million views.
Videos of people having their necks and backs cracked back into place are attracting millions of views online as people say the clips are addictive and fascinating in a similar way to watching spots being popped
Watching a stranger getting twisted and bent out of – or back into – shape on a massage table may not seem like prime television but it seems to hold a similar intrigue to spot-popping.
And while Dr Pimple Popper is regarded as the queen of gross skin videos, a man called Dr Ian Rossborough is one of the big names in the back-cracking world.
His channel Chiro Core has over 330,000 subscribers and showcases videos of his patients being pressed and crunched back into place at his clinic in Melbourne.
A 53-minute compilation on Dr Ian’s channel has been watched 13 million times and has over 3,500 comments.
And while some clips look like satisfying, controlled readjustments, others show alarmingly fast twists of the head.
But something common to most of them is the satisfying sound of bones and muscles clicking back into place.
One fan said: ‘Chiropractor videos are so addictive, and even more watchable than Love Island,’ The Sun reported.
‘The sounds are so satisfying, and the transformations in patients can be incredible.’
Clips posted online show chiropractors twisting and jerking people’s necks and backs back into place, and fans say the videos are ‘even more watchable than Love island’
Some of the patients on film are in so much pain they cannot walk properly or stand up straight, but some swift manipulation from a chiropractor appears to give them a new lease on life.
Chiropractic is a therapy in which a chiropractor uses their hands to manipulate a patient’s muscles, bones and joints to try and relieve pain or improve flexibility.
It is considered an alternative therapy, meaning it is not a normal medical therapy, and is not generally available on the NHS.
Below one video in which the patient moans during the procedure, a viewer commented: ‘This is better than porn.’
Another commenter said: ‘I can’t be the only one who can just sit here for hours listening to people being popped.’
And one added: ‘Watching these is a big fetish of mine… don’t know why.’
One of Dr Ian’s videos shows him helping a 17-year-old boy who messaged him on Facebook saying he couldn’t stand straight or walk properly because of numbness in his leg.
The boy had been in ‘excruciating pain’ three months after trying to pull up a tree root, and walks into the clinic bent double.
But after some back and neck-cracking from Dr Ian, in the video which has been watched 8.6 million times, the boy can stand up straight and gets back to normal a week later.
And the videos could be promoting the services of chiropractors everywhere.
Dr Mike Paull, of the Wigan Family Chiropractic Clinic told The Sun the videos are ‘an inspiration to chiropractors across the planet.’
‘As a UK-based chiropractor,’ he said. ‘We have patients walking into our clinic, showing us Dr Ian’s videos, and asking: “can you do this?” on a regular basis.
‘His example makes me glad to be a chiropractor.’