ask: What causes a clicking sound in the neck?

Hi, Michelle,

If your friend's symptom came on suddenly, I wonder if it is the way she's sleeping or a change in a chair at work.

Some people deliberately "pop" their neck by holding their head in their hands and pulling it back and forth. (This always gives me the creeps! It just doesn't sound good!)

Our EmpowHer encyclopedia discusses osteoarthritis, which can cause pain and neck popping (so glad your friend is not in pain). It begins a when the cartilage between the vertebrae begins to age and degenerate, leaving less space between the vertebrae:

http://www.empowher.com/media/reference/osteoarthritis#definition

Here's a chiropractor's explanation of joint deterioration in the neck that can cause this popping or cracking sound:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Neck-Injury-2727/constant-neck-popping.htm

Here is a summary of osteoarthritis from the Merck Manual; however, it also emphasizes that pain is a symptom for most people:

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec05/ch066/ch066a.html

The fact that your friend is under a lot of stress does seem to suggest that it may be connected. When we are stressed, our neck, shoulders and lower back tense up to an amazing degree. An archived story in the New York Times emphasizes what heppens to our muscles when we are feeling stress:

''People in tense, sedentary jobs are particularly prone to a chronic shortening of the muscles,'' said Steven Wolf, associate professor in the department of physical and rehabilitative medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

''Without even realizing it, they hold their bodies in a tense, alert pose day after day,'' said Mr. Wolf, who is both a physical therapist and a neurophysiologist. ''The buildup continues each day as the tensions repeat. As time goes on, their neck and shoulder muscles get shorter and shorter.''

And this talks about the neck's role:

"Headaches and a stiff neck are the most common symptoms of problems in the tension triangle. Tense muscles in the jaw and neck cause headaches by constricting blood flow to the head and scalp. And a stiff neck is usually the product of tightness in the trapezius muscle; the knot that stiffens the neck may actually be in the shoulders or back.

"These muscle tension symptoms can be caused by emotional turmoil. Fear, anger and frustration register in the body's muscles, and the ones in the tension triangle are quite sensitive to these emotions. Researchers have found, for example, that in the first two or three seconds of emotional upset, the muscles around the eyes, mouth and jaw almost always tighten.

"While emotion-bound muscle tension has long been familiar to clinicians, a new wave of muscle tension problems plagues people in the modern office, caused in part by the computer revolution."

Here's the whole story, which also discusses relieving this stress:

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/28/magazine/relieving-stress-mind-over-mu...

The Mayo Clinic has a video of some neck stretches we can do at our desks (it takes the page a moment to load):

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/neck-stretches/MM00708

And this may be an excellent reason for your friend to start getting regular massages!

yes i have got a ckicking neck no pain same as your friend i recently had a hystrorectomy and i blame the way i was pulled about

I too also have a clicking sound in my neck ( only when i turn it from left to right ).There is no pain but it's very annoying, i sometimes get muscle pain around that area. it happened all of a sudden one day, I have had it now for the past 7 months. I am the only one who can hear it, but on the odd occasion others can to.

I have been to the chiro a few times, but still the clicking is there. The chiropractor says that the clicking is due to the other muscles or joints etc around that area over compensating for weaker ones. He believes that it may have been a fall or a jolt in my early childhood that is only now coming to light. I have been getting massages as well as chiro sessions and am now thinking about trying acupuncture.

Fiona

Me too. When I look up and down as well as right to left. But no pain and only I hear it. I'm 40, have always worked on a computer and it started suddenly about a month ago. I have a habit of sticking my neck out and a history of slouching while seated, so I've been working on trying to improve my posture. Interestingly, when I do a particular exercise recommended to help me with my posture (bent over row with or without a weight) and really reach down my hand, my neck is straight forward and steady and the clicking noise happens then too. I've gone for 3 weekly adjustments and my chiropractor is still stumped but determined to figure it out. I am getting a ctscan tomorrow (for something entirely different) so he suggested they also take xrays of my upper spine and neck. I'll keep you posted.

Ok, I think I'm the only one following this post. : ) But for anyone who stumbles across this on their search... got back my xrays of my neck. pathology results from the hospital said everything was fine. HAH! Wrong! Pathology reports without a visual is just wasted info & knowledge! My x-rays showed that although the 1st 3 vertabrae were arched normally, 4-7 were practically straight along a rulers edge. I've been using my neck wrong for the past ?? years – tilting my chin, rather than using the full range of motion of my neck. Like I said, I must've been sticking my neck out working on the computer for years! So now I'm doing other exercises to stretch and strengthen my neck. I have to work at it relentlessly and my chiro is confident I can get those vertebrae active again. He also told me of another patient he had recently who had clicking also. This guy was an athlete though, with a thick, muscular neck. It only took 2 adjustments to get rid of his. Hopefully next update with show progress. Next chiro appt isn't for another 2 weeks, so I have to work my neck off. : )

I'm also following this thread because recently the noise in my neck has come back and with it a painful stiff neck and now intermittent left arm numbness. Got the shock of my life when the neurologist looked at a 2006 CD MRI of my brain and said I'd had a few TIAs and need to lower my HBP to avoid a major one. I went into mild panic, because a few years ago when I had experienced what I thought was stroke-like symptoms and gone to the ER, the doc had said in passing that I had had a TIA. I guess the shock this time is the casualness with which the findings were mentioned. So I focused on the news and left the neuro's office forgetting to find out about the noise. Luckily for me he asked to repeat the MRI of cervical spine, so hopefully something will show to give a clue, and then I can discuss in depth my current status. I'm clearly 50 pounds overweight even if the doc says slightly. My job is sedentary but I'm determined to find a way to combat the negatives of that. I've begun to lose weight but the stroke reference scares the living daylight out of me. I'm following this thread to see what resolutions emerge from other people's cases of noises in the neck.

me to