Neck exercises for your health: beware if you hear a cracking sound

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Neck exercises started for your health: if you hear a cracking sound, your neck is in even greater danger. 

- Neck exercises copied from YouTube for your health can backfire if you have a disc herniation

- Stretching correctly with help from a doctor and a rehabilitation therapist is better than doing it alone

Kim Jung-hee (42, Gwanak-gu, Seoul) is a bank employee. Treating her habitual neck and shoulder pain as an occupational hazard, she stretches whenever she can, turning her neck until it cracks.

After work, Mr. Kim exercises his neck, shoulders and whole body at home while watching YouTube. His neck stiffness recently worsened and he visited a local clinic, but

Told by a doctor to “have a detailed neck examination at a larger hospital,” he could only fear that something serious had happened.

Appropriate exercise and stretching are essential for modern life. But if you have symptoms of disc herniation, caution is required. Moving the neck excessively while stretching — to the point of a cracking sound — can further damage a weakened disc or ligament and actually worsen the condition. 

If you have a stiff, tight neck together with weakness and tingling in the hands that lasts for a long time, stop neck exercises right away. The formal name for a ‘neck disc’ is cervical herniated nucleus pulposus. It is caused by herniation of, or damage to, the disc between the cervical vertebrae that make up the upper part of the spine. ▲Pain in the neck and shoulders. ▲Pain in the nape when bending the head forward or back. ▲Tingling in the arms and hands. ▲Unexplained weakness in the fingers. ▲Persistent headaches of unknown cause. If these appear, you should obtain an accurate diagnosis from a neurosurgery specialist.

Yoon, Kangjun, neurosurgery specialist and President of St. Peter’s Hospital, stressed: “For most patients with cervical disc herniation, excessive stretching and exercise are not helpful during the acute phase. Many videos on neck exercises and neck stretching have appeared on YouTube recently, but if you have been diagnosed with a herniated disc, or suspect one, you should first see a neurosurgery specialist experienced in treating cervical disc herniation before beginning any exercise.”

Stretching should be done with a doctor or a qualified rehabilitation therapist, using correct posture and technique to stretch the shortened tissue precisely. Stretching the neck until the bones crack, however, is the wrong approach. Some people press hard on the side of the neck and find the resulting sound satisfying, but it is the sound of bone rubbing as the neck joint slips partly out of position. Repeating it can cause the joint bone to enlarge unnecessarily and compress nerves, so it should not become a habit.

Correct stretching for cervical disc herniation patients, from St. Peter's Hospital 

1. Relax your neck and gently shake your head from side to side

2. Squeeze your shoulder blades together and lift your head slightly

3. Avoid holding one posture for long, and walk looking slightly upward, about 15˚

However, if you have pain, we recommend consulting a specialist for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

- Correct stretching for cervical disc herniation patients, from St. Peter's Hospital (source: St. Peter's Hospital) -