TikTok creator Lily Zacharias has shared how she — yes, really — broke her own neck by cracking it, and she’s posted a video warning others from doing the same.
She explains how she used to have a bad habit of cracking her knuckles all the time and would often do the same to her neck by putting her head to one side and using her hands to shift it until it cracked her neck on both sides.
Her mum would warn her, “You’re going to break your neck!” but she kept doing it.
She explains what happened on the fateful day: “It’s week one of classes of my freshman year and I wake up around 8am and I do my morning routine, which was to sit up in my bed and take my neck and go pop, pop,” she says while showing the way she’d crack her neck.
“I’d take my head and go pop, pop, pop, and then swap to the other side and do the same, but this time it went pop, pop, snap,” she explains.
She said she was in pain, “like big time pain”, and was so scared to call her mum because she didn’t want her to say “I told you so”, but says she “couldn’t move”, as her head was stuck to one side.
“I finally call her in hysterics and she’s trying to call the dorm to get someone to help me, but they wouldn’t talk to her because of privacy laws between students and parents or whatever, but finally the RA (resident assistant) shuffles into my room and goes, ‘Do you have a problem?’.”
Hilariously, Zacharias says, “Like, no, I’m just sitting here with my neck at 90 degrees for the fun of it.”
People were quick to comment asking why she didn’t just immediately call for an ambulance: “Girl why did u not call 911 immediately u BROKE UR NECKKKKK!”
After going to the hospital, it turns out that she’d suffered what’s known as a compression fracture of her top two vertebrae, and she’d strained and sprained “every ligament all up in there.”
These types of fractures can be treated — you’d usually have to wear a brace for six to eight weeks until the bone heals. Or a more complex or extensive fracture might need surgery, and/or two to three months in a rigid cast.
She says the doctor said it happened because she has a mild hypermobility issue, so all of her joints go a bit further than they really should.
Is cracking your neck safe for those of us who don’t have hyper mobility? Yes and no.
According to Healthline, cracking your neck gently or only cracking it occasionally won’t cause you any harm, but doing it incorrectly, too frequently, or too forcefully can actually cause more pain or discomfort.
So, there you have it! Probably don’t crack your neck too often unless you want to be in a neck brace for the next three months…