It’s become my main stem. My neck is extremely tense and slowly in more and more pain and I’m getting concerned… can anyone else relate or offer tips?
The only thing I can offer is a small warning. I also was a habitual neck cracker- up until one night where my normal twist had an unfamiliar popping sensation which kind of felt like a muscle snapping. I was then greeted with incredible pain anytime I tried to move my head or just move in general. Had to go to the ER/urgent care that night. The doctor was very straightforward with their advice- there’s no reason I should be cracking my neck and I need to stop. I had pulled one of the muscles and it had severely swelled.
I also used to crack my knuckles, elbows, back, etc. I eventually stopped by catching myself in the act, acknowledging that I don’t like feeling like I can’t control myself, and giving my hands something else to focus on.
Good luck!!
Have you looked up any neck strength and range of motion exercises from a Physical Therapist?
You might be able to address your concerns with discomfort, with the possibility of picking up some healthy movements that are effective as replacements for your main stem.
Thanks! I’ll definitely do this
i used to crack my neck every few minutes until my doctor told me it can cause a stroke. true or not, it worked. haven’t done it once after that.
I just looked it up and your doc was right. It seems that it can often follow a chiropractic adjustment because believe it or not chiropractic is not a real medical field, similar to acupuncture and acupressure.
This is enough to make me think twice about cracking it - time for my AuDHD to find a new stim!
I do that when I get anxious or frustrated
If this were me, I’d probably try to pay attention to my posture and body position as I’m starting a task. Once I’m into whatever project I’m working on I’m less likely to notice my posture until I start feeling actual pain.
Yea, I also did that for a long time, until I might have overdone it. Now I can’t crack it even if I want to. Idk how that happened
I’ve been doing this lately too, after always cringing my whole life whenever I would see people on TV do it. Now it’s become a stim with me too, as well as scrunching my toes to kind of crack my ankle - like popping knuckles/wrists, just the foot version.
My ankle now hurts and I’m wondering if I’m doing lasting damage to my joints and ligaments 😔
symptomatic-treatment, get a good chiropractor.
real treatment: take up yoga, & do it, for real, until you body’s self-healing undoes the problem, then keep doing it, so it doesn’t come back.
We store stress in our bodies, which is why a chiro can help, as they can release some of it, while we keep storing more & more & more.
You can’t correct the problem by treating only symptoms, tho.
yoga’s the only corrective that’s going to really work,
and it has to be hard-min 3x/week, 4x/week will work much better.
Use Frawley & Kozak’s “Yoga for Your TYPE” book to figure-out which postures are required for your metabolism/dosha, & there are countless videos on the web for seeing how to do them.
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