Doctor explains why you should never crack your neck following new TikTok trend

A doctor has warned people against cracking their necks and explained some of the health consequences that can occur as a result.

Plenty of people who are feeling tense get their bodies cracked by a chiropractor, and videos of this happening have gone viral and became a TikTok trend over recent times.

However, Dr. Ever Arias (@everariasmd) has warned his followers against doing this. He began his viral video by posting a clip of a woman who decided to crack her own neck and ended up breaking it, resulting in her having to wear a neck brace.

"What happened is that she ended up flexing her neck a little bit too much and started having the compression fracture," he explained.

"It's important to understand that if you crack your neck if you got to the chiropractor there's a couple situations that you could put yourself in.

"Sometimes people come in with strokes and they had a chiropractor manipulate their neck and they ended up having a vertebral artery dissection that caused them to have a stroke."

He added: "He then warned those going to the chiropractor to ask for their neck to not be touched and added that he himself doesn't crack his neck joints as it can lead to 'damage'.

"You could also cause your own vertebral artery dissection or other injuries to vessels in the structure of the neck, very delicate structures here."

Dr. Arias also noted how having hypermobility syndrome can cause people to flex their neck "too much" and injure themselves. For example, he noted how a 20-year-old woman who walked into the emergency room after suffering from neck pain due to cracking it which turned out to be a cervical compression fracture.

The video has received more than 4.6m views and viewers have shared their thoughts on the health advice in the comments.

One persons said: "Not me cracking my neck watching this video. it's a compulsive thing. I need help."

"What do we do when we don’t crack out neck the amount of pressure we feel is debilitating?" another person asked.

Someone else added: "This is why I only strain my neck slightly to make it pop. I don’t twist, or strain it. Just one pop."

"Ugh this makes me nervous," a fourth person commented.

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