The only thing I can offer is a small warning. I also was a habitual neck cracker- up until one night where my normal twist had an unfamiliar popping sensation which kind of felt like a muscle snapping. I was then greeted with incredible pain anytime I tried to move my head or just move in general. Had to go to the ER/urgent care that night. The doctor was very straightforward with their advice- there's no reason I should be cracking my neck and I need to stop. I had pulled one of the muscles and it had severely swelled.

I also used to crack my knuckles, elbows, back, etc. I eventually stopped by catching myself in the act, acknowledging that I don't like feeling like I can't control myself, and giving my hands something else to focus on.

Good luck!!

Have you looked up any neck strength and range of motion exercises from a Physical Therapist?

You might be able to address your concerns with discomfort, with the possibility of picking up some healthy movements that are effective as replacements for your main stem.

i used to crack my neck every few minutes until my doctor told me it can cause a stroke. true or not, it worked. haven't done it once after that.

I do that when I get anxious or frustrated

If this were me, I'd probably try to pay attention to my posture and body position as I'm starting a task. Once I'm into whatever project I'm working on I'm less likely to notice my posture until I start feeling actual pain.

I've been doing this lately too, after always cringing my whole life whenever I would see people on TV do it. Now it's become a stim with me too, as well as scrunching my toes to kind of crack my ankle - like popping knuckles/wrists, just the foot version.

My ankle now hurts and I'm wondering if I'm doing lasting damage to my joints and ligaments 😔

Yea, I also did that for a long time, until I might have overdone it. Now I can't crack it even if I want to. Idk how that happened

symptomatic-treatment, get a good chiropractor.

real treatment: take up yoga, & do it, for real, until you body's self-healing undoes the problem, then keep doing it, so it doesn't come back.

We store stress in our bodies, which is why a chiro can help, as they can release some of it, while we keep storing more & more & more.

You can't correct the problem by treating only symptoms, tho.

yoga's the only corrective that's going to really work,

and it has to be hard-min 3x/week, 4x/week will work much better.

Use Frawley & Kozak's "Yoga for Your TYPE" book to figure-out which postures are required for your metabolism/dosha, & there are countless videos on the web for seeing how to do them.

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