Man has stroke while popping his neck

Man has stroke while popping his neck

GUTHRIE, Oklahoma (WCMH) – A 28-year-old father of two is recovering in Oklahoma after suffering a stroke caused by popping his neck.

“The moment I heard the pop, everything on my left side started to go numb,” Josh Hader told KOCO 5. “I got up and tried to get an ice pack from the fridge, and I remember I couldn’t walk straight.”

Hader’s father-in-law rushed him to the emergency room.

“I had about six or seven nurses and doctors surrounding me,” Hader said.

Hader tore his vertebral artery, a crucial vessel leading to the brain.

“He could have formed more clot on that tear and had a life-ending stroke. He could have died,” said Dr. Vance McCollom, at Mercy Hospital.

“If you have a stroke in that area, you can end up with a patient (who’s) locked in,” McCollom added. “They completely understand what’s going on, but they can’t communicate. They can’t move anything. They can’t speak. They can’t breathe.”

Although Hader’s stroke wasn’t significant, it did cause a lot of damage. He had to wear an eyepatch and use a walker for several days.

“For the first few days, I couldn’t walk without a walker,” Hader said. “It is difficult to walk with my left leg.”

Hader said he also had painful hiccups that nearly caused a panic attack. But the most difficult part has been not being able to help his wife with their two young children.

“I can’t pick him up out of the crib, give him milk in the middle of the night. I can’t do any of that,” Hader said.

“If you want to pop your neck, just kind of pop it side to side. Don’t twist it,” McCollom said. “Whenever you twist it, there’s a risk of tearing that vessel. Say my hand is his head, I suspect he just turned it real sharp and up, sharp and up and back. That’s what really pinched it.”

9 Comments

  1. Joshua Gibson on March 31, 2021 at 11:02 pm

    I hope he’ll stop popping his neck

  2. Charlie Dallachie on March 31, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    I heard this story, I still pop my neck but I don’t jerk it do it slowly, even just turn your head without hands in some cases.

  3. Kevin Yu on March 31, 2021 at 11:08 pm

    Jesus Christ being alive is scary

  4. Barry MacAusland on March 31, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    I injured my neck, simply by looking over my left shoulder. So, you are not the first to cause this by manipulation no matter what your doctors say. I have "Horner’s Syndrome." Do you? My right carotid artery is 100% occluded. It happened twice in one weekend, and I didn’t go to the doctor until after the second one. As soon as they looked and saw that one pupil was bigger than the other (and this was a new phenomena) they pretty much new I had a stroke. I’ve had ct’s and mri’s to keep track of the situation, and I see a neuro-ophthalmologist every year. Its been 4 years and I have retired since. right off the bat, the ER staff asked me if I had been to a chiropractor, or had I been cracking my neck. I seemingly injured my neck a long time ago, and that may have contributed to my injury. My neck had been bothering me for years, and I have issues with tingling sensations in my hands. I have told some folks about the dangers of neck cracking and chiropractors, but it falls on deaf ears. I hope you get feeling better Josh. It is a weird injury that has really effected my life. I was told not to do a lot of things that I enjoy. Golf, horseback riding, anything that makes your head bob around, or is a sudden movement like golf or even jogging.

    Good luck man.

  5. Nik Nur Aneesa on March 31, 2021 at 11:14 pm

    😱😱 be careful when cracking your neck😢

  6. Roman Andicochea on March 31, 2021 at 11:18 pm

    This story may be true. But that last part about the wife saying popping will give you a stroke is big fake.

  7. Ryan X on March 31, 2021 at 11:22 pm

    There was a story of a young teen over here in UK that turned his head, popped an artery (whether carotid or vertebral I aint sure) and he died. His mum got back after ringing his phone loads and found his seizing body. Scary shit. I gave up twisting my neck and cracking it 2 years back.

  8. Kobra on March 31, 2021 at 11:35 pm

    I’ve never been so scared to be alive, but scared to die at the same time

  9. jasin biggs on March 31, 2021 at 11:47 pm

    This is why I never leave my bed.
    Too many ways too die- popping neck, homicide, suicide, car accident, falls, work accidents etc etc

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