However, after reading this article, I now have some apprehensions about cracking my neck as medical professionals point out, it can have some devastating and evenly deadly outcomes.
From The Mirror UK:
Ever Arias MD wrote in the caption of his TikTok: "High-velocity neck manipulation can lead to vertebral artery dissection. That is why I never crack my neck!" According to the National Institutes of Health, vertebral artery dissection is "a rare cause of stroke in the general population; however, represents one of the more common causes of stroke in patients younger than 45 years of age."
It also says that "incidental minor trauma often precipitates this potentially dangerous condition", such as "neck distortion such as chiropractic manipulation, bending of the neck, or blunt trauma" can cause it to happen.
Ever said: "Storytime of why you should never crack your neck. So, there was a 20-something-year-old patient who walked into the emergency room after she said that she tried to crack crack after the second time she cracked it she heard a snap and started having a lot of pain.
"She walked into the emergency room after being seen and getting scanned, we found that she had a cervical compression fracture. Basically, she also was found to have a diagnosis of hypermobility syndrome, and because of that, she was very mobile.
"What happened is she ended up flexing her neck a little bit too much and started having the compression fracture. But it's also important to understand that if you crack your neck, if you go to the chiropractor, there's a couple of situations that you could put yourself in."
Ever then explained that sometimes people "come in with strokes", and they had a "chiropractor manipulate their neck" and they ended up "having a vertebral artery dissection" as a result, which caused them to "have a stroke." He then insisted that if you do go to a chiropractor, say: "Don't touch my neck." He said that you could also cause this issue yourself, if you crack your neck, and it can cause "other injuries to vessels in the structure of the neck." He then said: "Hopefully you use that information to never crack your neck again."
I long suspected that there must be a good reason why chiropractors are not considered medical professionals, and the potential for causing a stroke definitely seems like a top reason.
I suppose I'll just settle for the uncomfortable neck pain, as possibly suffering from death or a stroke seems like it would be even more unpleasant.
