I have been cracking my neck for years, numerous times a day. At some times while cracking my neck I feel relief while other times I feel pain. I also notice the need to crack my neck coincides with how I’m feeling and if I’m sick I feel the need to crack my neck more. Over the years I have seen horrified faces upon cracking my neck among the various worried comments. At one point during my freshman year of high school, my friends older sister, who is a massage therapist told me my spine will slowly misalign. As a stubborn 15 year old I didn’t buy it so here I am 4 years later still cracking my neck. My neck cracking has not only become a relief for me but also  a terrible habit. So I’m curious as to if cracking your neck is truly detrimental.

Along with my curiosity as to if neck cracking is bad I wonder about how neck cracking occurs. I know what happens in the knuckles but I am unsure of how it works with the neck. To get a better understand in regards to if neck cracking is bad or not I feel I should know how the cracking occurs. In a NY Times article that I found neck cracking is similar to the cracking of fingers. The article interviewed a director of sports medicine and he stated that the joints “boil when stretched”. This means that when someone bends or cracks their neck they stretch out the capsule that surrounds the joint and the pressure of the fluid in the joint decreases. If the fluid of a joint is decreased enough gas is released and voila there’s the sound of the neck cracking. The director of sports medicine also stated that usually the cracking of joints isn’t harmful but overtime irritation can occur within the cartilage and soft tissue.

One of the questions that also occurred to me is that there is that if cracking your neck is so bad, then why are there 18-38 million cervical spine manipulations performed yearly by chiropractors as stated in a research article. Although later in the research article, it discussed that manipulation of the spine can be related to possible worsening of the cervical spine and also possible herniated discs. Although similar to what we learned in class, there are possible third variables that could account for the negative impact on the neck.

Along with the direct physical complications that can occur with neck cracking such as tissue and cartilage irritation, there is an idea that neck cracking can raise the risk for a stroke. Although in a systematic review that assessed the risk of stroke and neck cracking, It concluded that there is a lack of conclusive evidence to prove that cracking your neck is directly correlated to the increase but the idea is not being eliminated.

Overall, I can conclude, with the help of the Huffington Post, that amateur neck cracking can pose problems, but if done by a professional the risk is very low. Although orthopedic surgeons would beg to differ. There is a lot of different opinions in regard to neck cracking. But the risk of getting a serious injury, a stroke, and nerve damage is extremely rare. But I am curious as to if research will progress in the future and conclude that longterm damage could occur.