Stop Popping Your Neck!
Stop Popping Your Neck!
I recently discovered a WikiHow article entitled “How to Crack Your Neck.” Let me ask you this… Have you ever felt compelled to skip the dentist’s office, reach for your rechargeable Dewalt drill, and attempt to fix your own toothache?
Pretty silly, right? Well wrenching your neck from side to side hoping to elicit pain relief isn’t much smarter.
I’ve lost count how many times someone has asked me if it’s okay to “crack” their own neck. In case you’re wondering too… the answer is a resounding NO. It’s never okay to manipulate your own neck, no matter how good you think it feels.
The cervical spine is one of the most delicate and complex parts of your body. It consists of joints, ligaments, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels, as well as your lower brainstem and spinal cord. Arteries along the sides of your neck are responsible for sending blood directly to your brain. Meddling with it for momentary relief is ill-advised.
The more you give in to “cracking” your neck, the worse the underlying problem gets. And you might be thinking…”But if I don’t do it, my neck begins to hurt even more!” – I know, it’s a vicious cycle, and a real Catch-22. All the more reason to address the cause of the problem at a chiropractor’s office.
Here’s the bottom line… Your spine likes to be stable. It’s not happy when it’s unbalanced. If your neck is tight, painful, or stiff, there’s a good chance you’ve got a developing structural problem. Spinal degeneration is not okay, and I can promise you that bending, twisting, and contorting your neck to induce popping sounds is not the solution!
For more information please call Dr. Ashley at 630-554-9991
Tim
1:55 pm on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
What a shameful advertisement disguised as an article.
No, I do not skip the dentist when I need a cavity filled. What a poorly thought out comparison.
Lets try a more realistic comparison;
Don't skip the dentist every day and decide that you can handle 'cleaning' your teeth yourself. i.e. brushing them.
Would you expect anyone to take any dentist seriously who said such a thing?
This line is just a flat out lie:
"It’s never okay to manipulate your own neck"
Never? Even in a perfectly healthy body, with no underlying medical problems? The FACT, is that it is just as dangerous(although the danger is incredibly unlikely - think getting hit by lightning on a golf course, AND attacked by a shark at the same time) for a person to do it on their own, as a chiropractor.
Are you going to tell people that stretching their arms to reduce muscle fatigue is also something that they should pay you to do?