@MasterCracker:

Massage Rules! […]
It can Definitely instigate cracking! This depends on the modality of course
you have better chances at cracking receiving Shiatsu or Thai massage
Than Swedish or Deep Tissue for instance
[…]
One of the best Cracks I've ever had was by a little older Thai lady
Some sort of spinal twist that got like 9 vertebrae at once
beautiful

I can wholeheartedly confirm that massages by Thai masseurs can intentionally induce cracks. The modality of the massage does not matter that much, the masseuse matters most!

I have the luxury of spending a few weeks in Thailand. In pretty much all full body Thai massages I have had, both finger and toe knuckles were explicitly cracked by pulling. The cracking procedure was clearly purposeful: It was repeated for each knuckle when necessary.

Today, I had a really unexpected massage which inclined me to post about it. I booked a one hour Swedish oil massage with an 40ish year old Thai lady. I'm pretty sure Swedish oil massages usually do not include purposeful cracking of your joints. But oh this one did!
My Thai lady did not only crack my finger and toe knuckles deliberately, she also cracked my neck by twisting both ways, my upper spine with my fingers interlocked behind my head and my lower and middle spine with a sophisticated spinal twist, again both ways. Each time I let go a series of loud cracks. I lost count how many vertebrae she cracked, it felt as if she got all of them. She wasn't surprised about my finger and toe knuckle crack sounds, but each spinal crack she was pretty shocked at the effect her procedure had on me, asking me each time if I was okay. I was.

She seemed very experienced, I felt really good after her "Swedish oil" message. 😛

Massages are very affordable in Thailand, so you will want to receive one pretty much every chance you get. While the full crack treatment feels very nice, I don't want this every day..
So for future full body massages by Thai masseuses (irregardless of full body massage modality) I might explicitly ask them to refrain from cracking all my joints, especially my neck. :roll:

Hm. me and my best friend tried this method the other night, and didnt seem to get our backs to crack.. :?:

I didn't get a pop, but it was a nice deep stretch that felt good.

My mom has an inversion table. I wonder if I could sneak over there with a vibrator. It would be very awkward if she came home early. lol

That sounds awesome! The other day I had a pretty similar experience. I woke up, and immediately my neck felt stiff and sore, and I couldn't really move it towards my left hand side.

I tried heat, ice, massage: nothing worked, and it was really getting me down. I then, at the end of my tether, decided to crack it.

I cupped my chin with my left hand and grabbed the hair on the back of my head with my right.

I pulled it, much harder than I usually do, and got 7 really deep cracks, all the way from the base of my neck to the tip. They started off as big clunks, and progressed to smaller and smaller high pitched pops up the neck. It felt incredible! My neck was then fine for the rest of the day 🙂

K8kate, thanks for sharing your success story. Congratulations. How long ago have you stopped? How many days, months, years has it been?

Could you elaborate what you did that helped you to stop? Was it sheer will power or did you do anything to help ease the transition?

Personally, besides obvious will power, I learned the following helps:

If a day is messed up a day is messed up, start anew with "stopping" when you get out of bed in the morning. It is easier to continue not to crack if you have not done so for a while. 8 hours or so is a start! Relaxation of any sort, do stuff you really like which help you relax. Physical exercise which doesn't induce cracking. For ankles and toes e.g. jogging helps. I recommend fitness clubs for otherwise hard to train muscles / tendons. If you feel a very strong cracking desire in a specific joint, try to wiggle the joint a little bit. Not enough to get it to crack! Just a little bit to get the tendons to loosen up a little. Warmth: Hot shower, bath, sauna.

I crack this daily, either how you are saying to do so, or:

Lay on my back and interlock my fingers behind base of head and do a "sit up" with only my head.

Or, I am in a sitting position, and I look down at my chest and use my hand and place it on my jaw. I force my chin/head back further down and it pops all of my c-spine.

I take a shower first thing in the morning, and right after I get out, I crack every bone in my body that I can. I start with my fingers and wrists, then go to my elbows, my shoulders, my hips, my knees, my ankles, and then my toes. It's become just as important and restorative to me as the rest of my cleaning process!
Unfortunately, I can't crack my back or my neck, and it sounds like all of the rest of you consider that a big part of your routine. Some of you can even crack your sternum! I'm super jealous.

sometimes after i crack my neck or back. I find i can get more cracks by using different techniques.

@carpal:

uhh are you talking about me?

No.

@carpal:

or someone else?

Yes. Read my post again.

Excellent, I hope you are right. Thanks for your reply.

One more question - how long have you been cracking for? Is it something that stays with you for a lifetime?

wait, sacrum is the tailbone?

when i crack my chest/sternum (the plate in the middle where your ribs meet), i do it sitting upright. i sit up tall, pull my shoulders back and down (trying to get the blades to touch in the back) which in turns opens up the chest.

i only acquired this ability in the past few months. it's a faint pop and sometimes it can ache after i crack it.

@jb09:

You must live a fairly charmed life if your greatest complaint is being punched in the neck six years ago. While I can sympathize, I too suffer neck pain (right? or is it just clicking?), why is it you don't take any of the advice offered all over this forum and, from what you have shared, other forums too?

I understand venting but, really, have you truly committed to getting better? Maybe you have become addicted to these little pity parties you're throwing for yourself.

You're at uni, forget about the petty nonsense that went on in high school and enjoy yourself. Go out and party, meet some girls (or boys) and try to get lucky. I guarantee you won't be thinking about your neck or Sam during that. You'll really kick yourself later if you spend all your time now worrying about something that happened in 9th grade.

And seriously, not to minimize your pain, but how bad could a punch in the neck really be? It couldn't be worse than the car that slammed into me when I was in high school. Thank g*d I didn't spend all of uni obsessing over the chronic pain it caused me. I went to a chiropractor once a week and took some pain killers if it started to act up and spent the rest of the time going to class and having a good time.

Anyway I am not trying to be a ball buster here but take some time and think about it, think about exactly what you are getting out of holding on to all this pain and angst. Looks to me like nothing at all.

Take care, be well and for G*d's sake, go have some fun.

Someone that understands me, thank you 🙂