As a busy working mum when you navigate through the whirlwind of daily responsibilities, its not uncommon for you to experience the nagging discomfort and stiffness in your neck. You may have cracked your neck as a quick fix. However, you may have wondered if neck cracking is safe? In this blog, let’s discuss what happens when you crack your neck some pros and cons of neck cracking.
So, what exactly happens when you hear that cracking or popping sound when you crack your neck? Essentially, the sound occurs when the capsule covering the joint gets stretched, allowing the fluid within to put less pressure on the joint. As the pressure decreases, the fluid turns into gas, resulting in the popping sound, medically termed cavitation. While this process is usually not harmful, frequent or improper neck cracking can have adverse effects.
Repeated neck cracking can lead to decreased elasticity in the ligaments surrounding the facet joints, potentially causing joint instability and an increased risk of osteoarthritis years later. Additionally, excessive neck cracking can result in nerve compression in the cervical spine. When this nerve compression happens in the upper to mid cervical spine, it can lead to cervicogenic headaches (cervical headaches), cervicogenic dizziness (cervical vertigo), dizziness, nausea. When the nerve in the mid cervical to lower cervical spine are compressed nerve pain can occur in the shoulder, arms, forehand or hands. This can be seen as tingling, numbness, burning, heaviness, etc. A less common consequence of cracking the neck in a wrong way is disruption in the blood supply to the brain or clotting. This occurs due to kinking of important blood vessels that supply the brain and are present close to the spine in the neck.
Watch this video for more details:
If cracking your neck is painful it may have an underlying condition such as a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, spinal degeneration, spinal arthritis, sciatica, etc. All these conditions are caused by inflammation in the neck and spine. However, specific symptoms of neck pain can give you an idea of what structures can be possibly involved. Once you understand the reason for your pain you can work on the treatment accordingly. Grab your free guide on If you are not sure of the cause of your neck pain, you can check out my free guide on "What is the cause of your neck pain" to learn some differentiating symptom of common neck conditions HERE.
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