My boyfriend has an ugly habit of popping his neck daily and constantly. How bad is this?

Question

Please help me out and tell him how awful it can be.

Answer 1

If you are a chronic neck-popper, you are very likely stretching the ligaments which support and stabilize your neck joints. Stretched ligaments result in a condition called hypermobility in which the joints lose their natural springy end play. To someone skilled at feeling joint motion, like a chiropractor, this loss of springiness can be detected. It is sometimes jokingly referred to as “floppy disc syndrome,” although the discs in the neck are not directly affected. As the ligaments become more lax, the small muscles that connect one vertebra to the next become tight. They have to work harder to make up for the loss of stability due to the lax ligaments. This makes your neck feel tight. As the muscle tension builds and your neck becomes more and more uncomfortable, you feel the urge to manipulate your neck. CRACK! The muscles are stretched, they relax, and you feel some relief. Of course, this manipulation also stretched those already loose ligaments, and the vicious cycle starts over again.

Hypermobility can be congenital (i.e., hereditary) or acquired. Teens tend to have hypermobile spinal joints. This is normal and will usually resolve as the skeleton and supporting tissues finish growing. However, if neck cracking becomes a habit, then the problem can continue into adulthood. Clinical evidence suggests that hypermobile spinal joints become arthritic at a faster rate than normal joints. Hypermobility can also result from injuries such as whiplash, or it can be self-inflicted. Some popping in the back or neck occurs spontaneously with movement and may be normal.

Answer 2

There's no proof that this will cause problems later in life (if you think there is feel free to post a link to the clinical results). What you are doing when you do this is realigning your vertebrae. If you've every played with a model spine you'd find the vertebrae take a lot of adjustment to line them up properly. As the muscles in your body relax and tense up your vertebrae get misaligned and cracking your neck or back simply puts them back into place.

If you want him to stop, give him massages regularly and he won't have to crack his neck.

Answer 3

I just asked my chiropractor if popping joints (i.e. neck, knuckles, back) repeatedly was a bad idea. She said that it's only relieving the pressure and placing the joint back into alignment (usually, when done right). Repeated joint 'popping/cracking', according to my doctor, is NOT detrimental to the joints. All day, everyday?? TOTALLY NOT necessary. If he is experiencing pain and doing it because of that, then he needs to see a licensed chiropractor, If he is doing it out of habit then that's nothing more than annoying for those around him.

Answer 4

He is weakening the discs between the cervical vertebra, and if he is predispositioned by genetics, will have awful arthritis in his neck causeing severe and dibilitating mirgranes...to which there is no known cure, but treatments of harsh drugs that turn your gastric system into a an ulcer ridden and polyp (lower GI tract) breeding ground. ( the meds basically tear up your bowels)

Answer 5

Sorry, but it's just irritating. Not dangerous to him or his neck. Probably a little more disconcerting than knuckle popping, but nobody has succeeded in popping off their head yet. Best you can do is either ignore it, or nicely ask him to no do it when you are around.

Answer 6

Tourette Syndrome is what it sounds like, it's pretty common. Check for the Tourette Syndrome association in Bayside New York online for more information.

Answer 7

i do it sometimes i did it 2day when my teacher was helping me 2day and she gave me a look and said yall's head goin 2 pop and then it ain't gonna move. she was jokin' but theres like theres only 7 girls in my class(small christian school)and out of that 7,5 of us crack our neck!!!!i don't think theres problems with it(i just cracked my neck by the way)when i've been looking down and my neck is hurting i crack my neck and 99.9% of the pain goes away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

No more than cracking the knuckles.

Maybe a visit to the chiropractor wouldn't hurt.

Answer 9

It's not a bad thing. Maybe it makes him feel better.

It maybe could give him problems later but I don't think he could be doing major damage. Just tell him to make sure he doesn't slouch...

Answer 10

Hi Carmen, Yes,It is bad if he is doing this daily.He will when he gets older,Get arthritis in his neck.Yes this is true.My doctor told me this.

Clowmy