A chilling simulation is instilling a newfound anxiety among individuals.
Joint cracking is a common and generally harmless behavior that many indulge in, yet when it comes to the neck, the stakes are significantly higher.
A frightening simulation created by Zack D. Films vividly illustrates the potential dangers of cracking your neck with excessive force, serving as a stark warning.
Let’s start with the peculiar feeling in your joints that prompts the urge to crack them. This sensation is due to gas bubbles within the joint fluid.
According to Harvard Health, it’s akin to “blowing up a balloon and then stretching the walls of the balloon outward until it pops”.
The simulation below illustrates how aggressively cracking your neck can result in tearing a blood vessel’s lining.
In unusual instances, this tear may lead to a blood clot. If this clot reaches your brain, it might obstruct blood flow, potentially triggering a stroke.
While not every stroke is fatal, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), strokes accounted for 39.5 per 100,000 deaths in the US back in 2002.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the US experiences a stroke, totaling over 795,000 cases annually.
Reactions to the alarming simulation have poured in. One viewer commented: “As someone who cracks their neck a lot, this video feels like a warning of some kind.”
Another person expressed: “New fear unlocked! Thank you again Sir!”
“My neck hurts watching this video,” another viewer remarked.
Beyond the life-threatening risks, habitual neck cracking can exert strain or stretch on the ligaments that stabilize your spine, warns Neurosurgery One.
It’s highly recommended to avoid using your hands to crack your neck (as depicted in the simulation) and to refrain from making it a regular practice.
Consider yourself warned!
Knuckle cracking is one of the most typical habits people have (myself included).
There have been concerns about its potential link to arthritis, but studies have shown that the habit poses minimal long-term harm. “Cracking the knuckles is probably harmless,” notes Harvard Health.
“Although there have been occasional reports of dislocations or tendon injuries from overly vigorous knuckle cracking, such problems seem very much to be the exception and not the rule.”