The Risks of Amateur Neck Cracking by Reynaldo Perez D.C.
Neck pain ranges from annoying to downright disabling. Cracking your neck seems like instant relief, right? Sometimes, that is the case, but amateur neck-cracking can do more harm than good. As some recent viral videos show, neck-cracking is best left to the professionals, and chiropractors weigh why this trend is so dangerous. Let’s read about what they have to say. Neck-cracking and the Viral Video Influence Recently, a TikTok user named Kaden Thaddeus (@ur.boi) posted a video in which, from his hospital room, he warns others not to engage in amateur neck-cracking. The next day, he posted another video, showing himself in a neck brace. He admitted that he had cracked his neck the previous morning so hard that it turned his head sideways. Stabbing pain sent him to the emergency room. Damage Resulting From Amateur Neck-cracking Amateur neck-cracking can result in pinching a nerve, which immobilizes the cervical spine. A constantly cracking neck could be a sign of hypermobility in the joints. When a person continually cracks their neck, the surrounding ligaments in those joints can become permanently stretched. The more a person cracks their neck, the more prone they become to developing osteoarthritis.