An end to neck/spine cracking
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Folks… This will be a long post. To get what it is about you might skip to the end of it for a summary.
Over time I have read lots of the posts at this site. From that reading I am concluding that my own cracking situation is not a common one. But if someone out there really does have a similar situation, I want to offer hope.
Cracking has been, for me, almost overwhelming. Mine is in the spine. It started as neck cracking. There has been a left-side issue, as though due to a blockage of some sort on the left side. That issue is cleared now.
In fact, my cracking has changed very much over time. It has seemed to travel downwards and has gone from the skull to, nowadays, the mid-back area. The current cracking is very 'productive' and seems to indicate an ever-increasing (and healthy) new mobility. That is my assessment.
But the whole process, over about five years now, has occupied a huge amount of my life and attention. It has included significant pain, and significant sleep loss.
I do believe the need to crack and the resultant sense of release represents some sort of healing, in my case, rather than disease. But it has been remarkably difficult to deal with. Others around me in my life view it as a disease and have forced me, basically, to seek lots of various treatments -- all of them time-consuming and expensive, and all, so far, by professionals who do not understand what they are faced with here.
But I want to report to you folks that the cracking is vastly diminished nowadays. It is going somewhere. It appears to be headed to some sort of conclusion.
If someone told me this say three years ago, it would have saved me considerable worry. That is why I am telling you folks.
I can go whole car rides with none of it happening, for instance; and that is new. I can sit through a whole movie with no cracking. But I will admit that pressure is still there. It is always there. The pressure translates to a stretching need -- and I am sure that the stretching is good and healthful, making for greatly improved posture and also function.
A final note: I am a meditator. I have meditated daily, twice per day, for many decades. It is a concentration style meditation. I think the world of it and am very glad that I have taken it so seriously for so long. I suspect that this practice has however enhanced the growth process resulting in such an immense cracking need. Sped up evolution is how I interpret it. You'd think that, if so, wisdom would also increase. Let's hope it does, and that it has.
Anyway, I think my cracking days are drawing to an end. I believe the whole experience has been a gift, though I admit it has been a really difficult gift.
If you are interested in more of my words on this, see my own intro to this site here:
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Hi Brian
Thanks for the post.
I'm on a very similar journey to you… yoga etc. It all started with me realising that I had posture problems at the top of my spine, and that yoga couldn't actually help with that.
I've been cracking as discussed in this post:
http://www.jointcrackers.com/ftopict-726.html
My theory is that cracking opens up the body as is advocated on the yoga path. First we release enough tension to be able to sit comfortably for a long period of time. Then Pranayama to clean the nervous system. And then meditation to achieve the higher states.
So with that point of view, cracking has been a wonderful gift for me and I view it as a vital part of my life journey. I'll do it for as long as necessary.
Like you I seem to be coming down the back... I'm 3 years into the journey now and the spine cracks are coming further down the spine. I'm anticipating that there might be some kind of an end in sight when I get right down to the bottom and my spine is perfectly straight. But right now that's still a long way off so the journey must continue!
Jaw Cracker
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Hello Jaw Cracker. Thanks for the post.
I can't add much to what I have already written – not that you were looking for more from me of course. But I think it is smart to help others who may show up here. Joint cracking can be confusing, if and when it gets out of hand.
As it may have, in my own case!
I am still cracking. As I said before, it is now focused on the mid-back area. It can go on for hours. It always seems to be addressing needed structural changes. But it just never stops. I assume it is going somewhere useful. It definitely seems to be... but the fact that it never resolves, or so far has not resolved, has me wondering sometimes.
Like you though, I see changes which seem very good. I stand taller now than before, and lots straighter. Several problems have diminished or gone away; and anyone interested in those can look for my earlier posts about that.