Doctor explains how cracking your neck could kill you

A doctor has warned about a very real danger of cracking your neck.

It's something many of us do to relieve tension or when we're stretching.

Sitting at an office desk, you push back your chair, have a good stretch from your arms down to your feet, and then get that hugely satisfying 'clack' as the joints in your neck pop.

The popping sound when you crack a joint, whether it's a knuckle, a knee, or any other, comes from gases dissolved in the joint's lubrication fluid

When the bubbles collapse, it creates that satisfying pop.

It's hard to deny how satisfying it can be to do crack a joint, but there could be a danger in cracking your neck which a doctor has explained.

Many of us do it! (VladimirFLoyd/Getty)

A video looked at potential health complications, including that cracking your neck could cause you to tear a blood vessel

However, Dr Michael Gartner explained that while this is theoretically a danger, the amount of force needed to do this would very large.

The doctor explained this is unlikely to be a risk with the amount of force it takes to crack your neck, but it is 'possible'.

However, there is another complication which the doctor said could be dangerous.

This could be riskier than it looks (VladimirFLoyd/Getty)

That is if you do manage to damage the inside of your blood vessels then this could cause a blood clot to form.

Blood clots can be extremely dangerous if they break loose in the body.

While they won't stop the blood flow in a major artery, if they travel to one of the smaller vessels they absolutely can form a blockage.

And if that blockage gets into an important part of the body such as the lungs or brain then that can become life threatening.

Dr Gartner explained: "Any blood clot in the major artery going to head can break off and cause a stroke.

"A stroke is basically where a blood clot breaks off and it clogs the smaller arteries. As the arteries gets smaller in the brain, that part of the brain may not get much oxygen."

If you have a stroke, then it means part of your brain become starved of oxygen and starts to die off.

That can lead to long term brain damage that can have effects on mobility, speech, and even memory loss.

Sadly, a large stroke can very easily be fatal.

Has anyone actually had a stroke from cracking their neck?

In 2023, 44-year-old teacher Ryan MacCredie from Mansfield, Ohio, suffered a stroke after cracking his neck.

When he woke up in hospital five days later, he could no longer walk or talk, though he did slowly recover, ABC 5 reports.

In 2019, Josh Hader, 28, from Oklahoma, popped his neck while doing stretches and ended up having a major stroke.

The same year, Natalie Kunicki from London, UK, stretched her neck and collapsed 15 minutes later. Medics told her she'd torn the vertebral artery in her neck, which caused a blood clot and then a stroke.

Stay safe, folks.