The article was deliberately short as there is so much to this subject and i didn’t want to bore everyone……

There is a contradiction between tension and relaxation with your muscles. As an example whiplash is a real problem from car accidents and in particular from the martial arts. Generally to better protect any joint you need to strengthen the muscles and maintain or improve your flexibility.

If you use a lot of force to stretch, it is likely that you will over extend the ligaments. If you go to far you can actually snap or damage them. Recovery from this is problematic and in some cases requires surgery as it compromises the stability of the joint. This in turn causes arthritis / excessive wear and tear.

You need a routine that gently twists the neck without going to extremes. The so called internal martial arts very much have stretching routines that deal with these problems, although usually you will find this in a Tai Chi class. The warm up had their roots in preventing whiplash injuries when you were thrown around. These days, they are mainly used to maintain flexibility and heal injuries, so well worth having a look at.

Most people will experience some degree of clicking when you move your neck in the manner you describe. It is normally caused by either excessive tension in the neck area or calcium deposits (calcification). Milk and diary foods aren’t very well handled by our bodies and frequently end up as deposits in your joints.

The clicking is rarely a problem, but may be a warning that you may need to have a look at your diet.

I have been debating for a long time whether to write a book on clicking joints and what to do about them. If there is enough interest I will put this together!

Thanks

Steve

Since about a year my neck cracks and clunks.
The cracking is a bit like how knuckles can crack, although I don’t do anything to make this happen myself. The clunking mostly happens when I move my left ear to my shoulder and then bring my head upright again. I’m about to see my doctor about this. There is no real pain, but frankly I’m very worried.

This sounds reassuring though:
“Once the muscles are stronger, you can consult your general practitioner for bringing back the ligaments into proper shape.”

I always thought ligaments are like elastic bands: once overstretched they never return to their proper shape. How would one get them back in shape though? Through strengthening exercises?