dj100,

Thanks for the reply, and question. No, I do not remember anything happening to my neck, as did in your case.

Oddly, I think what is happening to me might have a good side to it. Over time, my posture is actually improving. Plus, as far as I can tell, the nature of the cracking has changed over time. It seems lots more "effective" now, and deeper, than it did at first. But the progress is incredibly slow. It takes LOTS of cracking to get anywhere in this process.

People in my age category tend to start slumping over, and some of that involves the actual bone structure, discs, and ligaments and so on. In my case the process is evidently going the other direction. So, I am willing to consider this a very good development. But I wouldn't mind it finishing up rather than just continuing indefinitely.

My point is that the clicking may have started on its own anyway, in your case, since it certainly did in mine. My point is also that the cracking might indicate the start of a really good thing, such as a beneficial change in structure. I seem to have several clear health benefits coming from this – and I could give details about those too, if anyone is interested.

Do you (dj) have a slouching posture? And is it changing. along with the joint cracking? If not, then your situation might not be the same as mine -- or it might be a very early stage of what I have going on.

I will be interested in your response, and ideas.

Folks,

This is my second introduction. The first one appeared six years ago.

I gave this a grand title as you can see. It is an accurate title.

What began as neck-cracking – eventually every 15 seconds or so, every day and, eventually, all night and every night – has now revealed itself as a spontaneous remission from severe scoliosis. My whole trunk has been twisted to the left all of my a***t life, or at least since pre-adolescence. Surely the twisting process was gradual. It is due, I think, to an eye imbalance called strabismus or lazy eye.

I am in the final stages of this transformation.

I have gained about an inch in height since age 50 due to this transformation, and I am now in my mid-but-going-on-late sixties.

This process has been outlandishly difficult, almost to the point of driving me mad. It has been difficult socially since I have looked spastic. Modern medicine has had no clue, none at all.

There is an inner transformation which accompanies this outer transformation. I will say no more about that since it is not my place to say much about it. I am a passage meditator and I think this transformation comes as a result of that. I have a spiritual teacher and a spiritual path.

There are also significant health benefits accompanying this process. A straighter spine is a better spine, and the straightening has helped clear up several distressing health inconveniences such as acid reflux, toe-cramping and leg cramping, and more. My eye imbalance seems to be resolving: straighter gaze, no more double vision, or headaches due to the lazy-eye imbalance. I have gradually cracked through considerable areas of arthritis and scar tissue, resulting in far greater freedom of motion. The whole spine is lots more flexible now. Youthful, compared to, say, one decade ago.

If anyone wants, do go ahead and look at my first introduction to compare the two. Here is the link:

https://www.jointcrackers.com/topic/583/an-end-to-neck-spine-cracking

I named that one ‘an end to neck spine cracking’. That was six years ago. The title was premature.

Also, I am not sure if I can be of use to anyone else. No one helped me with advice or example. No reading material that I ever found shed any light on this. But I am hoping my post here might at least give heart to anyone else undergoing anything similar. This post would have helped me for example, in reducing the sheer baffling uncertainty around this surprising and remarkable process. Even though the process continues, more dramatically than ever at this point, I no longer find myself baffled by it. It is a gift.

Thanks,

Brian

PS: I plan to revisit this post here about once per week, for a while, to see if there are any comments.

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.

Enigma: Your reply to Jelly is really good, IMO. I hope others get around to seeing it here.

Thanks! I will remember this!

And by the way, I also had Prolo treatments. I agree with that idea. Smart of you to mention it. We need of course to find someone who knows how to do it well. Luckily there is one in my area. I hope the practice is catching on and spreading, since it is very helpful for strengthening ligaments.

I might also add that there are concentration style meditation methods that some people prefer. Google 'passage meditation' for a good example. But what you say is also very good, for those who take to the 'blank mind' style.

You ask, what is "ripping?"

I gather there is a fluid pressure of some kind. Or even gas – C02, they say. The popping comes from a shift within the joint.

EDIT: JC posted good information on that here:
http://www.jointcrackers.com/ftopict-25.html

I also strongly suspect that there are adhesions as well as arthritic spindles (my term) that we sometimes break though. We get clear sensations from doing that, and the sounds are also distinct. 'Ripping' is a word that I do recognize, from the sound and also the feeling.

What are adhesions? Soft tissue formations, much like scar tissue.

What are what I am calling spindles? Filaments of calcification. On an x-ray they look like cotton filaments.

If you are interested, go over to the 'Treatment' thread, in Forums, to see my latest post about my own situation. It may provide useful information for you. Here is the link:
http://jointcrackers.com/ftopict-708.html

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:

http://www.jointcrackers.com/ftopict-633.html

@Jellyboo:

Hi there, I created my account a while ago but only just found it again now. I want to really apologise in advance for this massively long post.. I just need to vent. I'm getting desperate for some answers to this; none of the doctors think there's anything wrong with me, I've had x-ray of neck but it's just getting worse.
Some background info: I'm a 16 yr old female.

Basically, whenever I breathe in, my neck cracks. I've noticed the sound is one of two: either a squishy crackling sound with no actual crack, or a big dull sickening cracking sound. Every single time I take a breath. I can't stand it any longer. I've had this for 11 months now and it's just getting worse. I don't know what it is and am getting two panic attacks a day at the moment.

Also, I have an aching pressure feeling all up the back of my head, and am almost always lightheaded. I'm so scared it's something serious. It feels like there is a hole in my spinal cord, and it's pushing and catching on the vertebrae.. I just can't cope with it anymore. My mum doesn't know what to do either. I'm going to a psychologist to try and manage my panic, but I just keep thinking what if it's NOT just panic and anxiety, and it's something serious being overlooked. I'm just really scared.

I have to sit with my head poked right out rested on my hand because if I have my head straight up, it just cracks and cracks and makes my neck hurt to the touch. This is making my posture terrible 'cus it's making my head stick out and shoulders rounded. If I sit up straight, it cracks between my shoulder blades and hurts.

When I move my head to the side it grates right at the top. And also, I can make my neck do the dull crack by putting both of my hands on my shoulders and dragging forwards, then breathing in. When I do this, if I put my hand at the top of my chest, or the side of my jaw, I can feel the crack vibrate through my bones.

The squishy sound coming from the top of my neck near the base of my skull: I'm scared its the sound of the blood vessels being severed and that's why I'm dizzy and get sharp pains in my head.. I also have terrible depersonalisation and it's making that worse. I've read articles about there being a link to stroke and neck cracking, but I'm not even cracking my neck on purpose..

Been to a phsyiotherapist and I'm hypermobile so I suppose that could explain the squishing sound..? The ligaments between the vertebrae? The doctor says my neck muscles are very tense too and because I'm hypermobile my muscles are weak. So I suppose this could be what's causing it? My phsyio hasn't even given me any excersises or anything though, everyone just seems to be shrugging it off. I really don't know what to do.

I'm sorry for posting all this, I just had to get it out. Thankyou so much if you've read all this; it means a lot. Any advice/ comments at all would be appreciated if anyone has any information or anything at all. I'm desperate..
~Jelly

I think the issue to deal with is hypermobility.

In my case, strengthening exercises have been most necessary. Strengthen the muscles around what is hypermobile, to provide more support.

Clearly, if there is cracking, there is rigidity beneath the hypermobile area. So, loosening up the rigid areas also helps incredibly. But it takes a long time. Long time or not, it is worth it since anyway what choice do we have?

I have turned myself into almost an athlete in terms of how strong my back and abdominal muscles are. Also neck muscles.

That is my take on your situation, Jelly. I wish you the best.

@chococrazy:

K guys I just made a new account.
I'm the 700th and 701th member

Welcome to you!

@Boop:

Hmm, let's see if I can explain it better. It sounds weird though, right? haha!

Okay:

Get on all fours, on your hands and knees like a dog or some such thing.

Arch your back, not up, but down, and look up at the ceiling as best you can. So I guess that could sound like a banana on all fours? LOL! Arching helps the other person to get a better grip on the skin over your spine.

Then get your partner to start from the base of your spine and working up (I usually have him stop just below my shoulder blades), pinching the skin firmly over your spine with two hands and pull up, no pushing down. Think of it as the exact opposite to how people usually have someone crack their back (which is usually pushing down).

So in theory, when your back is all compressed from the stresses of the day (walking, sitting, exercising, so on), I feel the by doing this you are literally pulling compressed discs out and into their original alignment.

I mentioned this to a chiropractor once who said it certainly isn't hurting anything, so no harm no foul.

I usually get a dozen pops or so. The ones near the base are usually just small pops but as you work up, they get LOUDER! Sometimes, if you get a good grip, you can pull two or three vertebrae at once! And yes, you can literally feel individual verts. shifting and popping, so can your partner! It's very, very satisfying!

I recommend it to anyone who can tolerate someone else pulling their back like that. My partner doesn't like it because the pinching/gripping of the skin itself hurts, not the popping. I personally love it and could literally be lifted off of the floor by my skin alone without feeling pain! There is a type of massage I enjoy with the back pulling, it has a real name (Tai Ne? Something weird like that) that involves pinching, pulling, and rolling the skin. It feels WONDERFUL on my back, I can feel my blood circulating and the skin gets hot. Very nice after a tough day.

Aside from my back, I pop the usual: all toes (including the tarsals or whichever of the foot), knees, hips, neck, all of the joint in my fingers (even that teeny joint in my thumbs), my wrists, and jaw. I am also "double jointed" or whatever in all of these places and more.

Also: there is a way to pull your back by yourself if you care to know.

SO!

Does anyone else do this? LOL. I am going to guess: No. But maybe you'll give it a try?

Boop,

I formerly did something similar all by myself. In my case, I would lie on my back and, with hands behind the head, pull the head forward and down in a sudden motion. Many cracks would result, cascading quickly. It was spinal, and mostly upper spine. I could only do it once per hour or so – as though the cracking possibility built up over time.

I thought this maneuver was helping spinal mobility. Maybe it was. But it morphed over time. It became a major cracking thing, a habit and a need, which is still with me. It is neck-oriented these days. I am almost certain though that I am getting through something, and correcting a life-long structural problem, by these millions of cracks -- and finally now, stretching. I am stretching some stuck areas so that they can move again.

I am not sure if you will find this account useful. I wish you the best.

This sure is an old thread. You asked this question in 2008? and no one has replied yet? Or I am maybe reading the stats wrong.

But, on to the topic at hand, namely treatment…

One issue seems to be that the word 'treatment' implies an illness, or problem, and generally something one is trying to get over. I notice several posters here do not want to get over joint cracking.

In my case, I do -- and I am.

Why 'treat' joint cracking? Actually, it is more that the joint cracking is treating another problem. I think that I am helping along a process that showed up as joint cracking -- in the neck and now back, in my case. The cracking addresses an underlying 'rigidity' problem I have had, I guess all my life, in the spine and especially the upper spine, somewhat to the left side. The rigidity leads to slumping posture, and more so over time. Cracking, and better yet stretching before coming to the cracking point, and between cracks, loosens up the stuck area.

But this healing process is incredibly slow, and also somewhat painful. It is also noisy, and people notice me doing it. Not that I mind so much, but it does alter my 'persona' some.

In several posts here I have mentioned doing yoga. So I will again mention it. Long story short: I think doing yoga asanas, daily if possible, is very helpful as a 'treatment' for habitual spinal joint joint cracking.

djj, since you asked, I will now put in the same message that I sent you in your inbox here, with a new comment too, below it.

I don't consider myself an expert on yoga, and so feel a little odd recommending anything in that realm. But I can say what I have done.

I learned a useful set of poses long ago, in a fee class we had back then in my hometown. More recently I learned more from several videos – the names Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden come to mind, as presenting useful videos, which are surely now available in DVD. The best such video presentation that I know about is by Bidyut K. Bose. Actually, it is on DVD only and not on video. Here is a description of it from his website (niroga.org

http://www.niroga.org/store/index.php

It is a bit expensive at $40. It is also very complete, with 1 1/2 hours worth, and presents a graduated approach. I know B.K Bose and respect him highly.

If money is a problem, it may be possible to borrow these things from a library. We can do that in the US, at least in our area here.

I find that, for me, the plow is a really smart one to do for neck problems. Some people wonder if it causes neck problems. In my opinion and experience, for what those are worth, it helps to loosen up rigidities in the upper body and neck. At least it has done so for me. Everyone needs to evaluate it for themselves, checking with knowledgeable experts.

But it is not a good idea to do only one asana. One needs the balance of a set of asanas, so that the loosening up is more general. Problems arise whan loosening up is limited to one or a few areas.