A 28-year-old nearly lost his life after he suffered a major stroke from cracking his neck, ABC News reports.

ABC affiliate KOCO reports that Josh Hader, 28, was admitted to Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City after tearing his vertebral artery, which leads to the brain.

According to Dr. Nura Orra, who is a family medicine physician and a member of the ABC News medical unit, having your neck 'manipulated', or cracking it, can carry a risk of a stroke.

"His wife had been telling him, 'Don't pop your neck. You're going to cause a stroke,'" Mercy Hospital Dr. Vance McCollom said, and unfortunately, she was absolutely right.

Here's the full extent of Hader's ordeal:

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Dr Orra explains the associated risk of cracking one's neck thus;

"[It] places the vertebral artery in a precarious position prone for injury.

"Studies have shown a correlation between increased risk of stroke and people who get their necks manipulated."

Hader was relatively young to have suffered a stroke, Dr Orra said - as per ABC News - but the neck crack is likely to have lead to it since "a tear in the lining of the artery caused an obstruction of blood flow to the brain."

28-year-old Hader is recovering from the stroke, KOCO reports; the incident left him wearing an eyepatch due to an injured nerve, and he was forced to use a walker for several days.

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Sadly, the father of two has been unable to care for his children as a result of the stroke;

"I can't pick him up out of the crib, give him milk in the middle of the night," he revealed to KOCO, "I can't do any of that."

Dr McCollom of Mercy Hospital said;

"When he popped his neck, he tore arteries that go to the bone of the neck, where the neck joins the skull at the base of the brain.

"The way he twisted the neck caused a bisection."

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After rehab, Hader has been able to live independently, but there have been consequences of his ordeal;

"Currently, I can walk without a walker or cane, but I get tired much faster than before. My balance is still a little off, but it's not terrible.

"My left side tingles a little and feels heavier than it used to. I also don't have as much control of that side as I used to. My right side doesn't feel sharp pain or hot/cold.

"I'm good emotionally. Like I said before, it's still a struggle walking long distances, but it's getting much better."

Dr Vance McCollom said the stroke was life-changing, but could have been much worse.

A 23-year-old paramedic has suffered a stroke after a "neck crack" went wrong. She is now sharing her one-in-a-million story to raise awareness of strokes in young people.

The incident happened on March 4 when Natalie Kunicki, an employee of the London Ambulance Service (LAS), was enjoying an evening in with a friend watching movies.

While in front of the TV, she strained her neck and heard a loud "crack", as did her friend, but assumed that it was nothing. She went to bed "tipsy", and when she woke up 15 minutes later, she realized that something was seriously wrong when she was unable to walk after losing control of her left leg.

Natalie struggles to move after rupturing her vertebral artery:

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She was rushed to hospital in the early hours of March 5. There, a CT scan revealed that she had suffered a stroke after unknowingly rupturing the vertebral artery in her spine. This triggered a brain clot which led to a stroke.

The 24-year-old, who is originally from Canberra, Australia, moved to England in December 2017 to fulfill her dream of being a paramedic, Kennedy News and Media reports.

"People need to know that even if you're young, something this simple can cause a stroke. I wasn't even trying to crack my neck. I just moved and it happened," she said.

"I'm a paramedic and I didn't ring 999 for 10 minutes because I thought it was too unlikely it would be a stroke when I should have known much better," Natalie continued. "Every minute more of your brain cells are dying, so don't ever discount a stroke just because someone is young."

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She then explained the risk which gym bunnies are at of a similar incident happening to them:

"People need to be more mindful when doing any chiropractic exercises or strenuous gym weights. I was in bed watching stuff with a friend when it happened.

"I stretched my neck and I could just hear this 'crack, crack, crack'. My friend asked 'was that your neck?' but all my joints crack quite a bit so I didn't think anything of it. I just laughed.

"I fell asleep and when I woke up about 15 minutes later. I wanted to go to the bathroom but I could feel this leg in the bed and I was asking my friend if he could move his leg.

"He told me it was my leg but I was a bit tipsy so I wasn't taking anything seriously and just thought 'that's a bit weird'. I got up and tried to walk to the bathroom and I was swaying everywhere. I looked down and realised I wasn't moving my left leg at all - then I fell to the floor."

To put how slim the chances of a young person having a stroke are into context, Everyday Health reports that seven to 15 people in every 100,000 under 45 will suffer one.

This is because stroke risk factors like high blood pressure are so closely liked to age.

After discovering that she had suffered a stroke, the 23-year-old said that she went into a state of shock that lasted three days:

"When the consultant told me I'd had a stroke I was in shock.

"The doctors told me later that just that stretching of my neck had caused my vertebral artery to rupture. It was just spontaneous and there's a one in a million chance of it happening.

"I don't smoke, I don't really drink, I don't have any family history of strokes so it's quite strange it happened to me when I was just moving in bed.

"I was in shock for about three days in ICU. I was a bit of a wet blanket. I didn't really say much and I wasn't engaging with anyone. I had no sense of humor.

"I was just completely shut off, trying to compute what had happened. People said I was a bit like a robot and didn't show much emotion."

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However, with a little help from her friends, Natalie was able to begin her journey to recovery:

"But a couple of my friends from the ambulance service told me, 'You have a week from the day of your stroke to snap out of this or we will snap you out of it.'

"I was able to have my little pity party for a week but that's it. They told me, 'What's done is done now - just work and do all the exercises.'

"They were fantastic and they would come in and do all the exercises with me. I think if I didn't have them I would have been in my pity party quite a bit longer but instead, I smashed through all the therapy goals.

"I just love my job and I want to get back to it. I'm so used to being busy and now I feel like I'm climbing the walls a bit. I definitely want to get back to work as soon as I can."

She also explained that while her friends were instrumental in helping to get her out of the shock she experienced, they were also the reason that she was reluctant to call the emergency services when she first suspected something was wrong.

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"I was trying to call 999 but I was dithering about it," Natalie said. "There was a high chance the crew who turned up would be my friends and I didn't want them to see me tipsy. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't, so I called 999 and I didn't recognize the crew who turned up."

"I think they did look at me at first like they thought I was just a classic drunk 23-year-old but I told them I was a paramedic and I knew something was wrong.

"They took my blood pressure and heart rate and they were both sky high. Then they did this test where they hold their finger in the air and you have to touch your nose then their finger. My hand went all over the place and I was thinking 'oh no'. I knew something was going down."

After being taken to the hospital, Natalie then had to have emergency surgery. This involved repairing the burst artery with a stent. It is believed that the clot left in her brain will drain itself in time.

"I expected to wake up from this miracle surgery and everything would be fixed but my mobility was worse and they couldn't clear the clot. At the start I couldn't move my thumb and forefinger. I could kind of move my wrist up and down. I couldn't lift my arm. I could bend my left leg but I couldn't wiggle my toes," she said.

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"The doctors would do tests - I had to close my eyes and they would touch my left side but I couldn't tell where they were touching. It was like when you have really bad sunburn and your skin is sizzling. I felt that all down my left side.

"I think I scared my consultant because after I woke up, she came in to ask how I was going - but I told her, 'You should have killed me.' Depression is really common after a stroke because you lose so much of your independence and your dignity.

"I had to have a nurse help me shower in a wheelchair. What 23-year-old needs someone to help them shower and wash their hair? It was just a bit surreal."

Thankfully, less than two months later, Natalie is feeling "much better". She has now moved back in with her parents, who also live in London, and said that this has helped her to recover faster.

She is hoping to be back to "light duty" as a paramedic within the next six months to a year.

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"I was scared at first about being discharged, because my parents' home has lots of stairs and I didn't know how I was going to manage, but it's gone well. I've recovered movement in my left side. I can walk but not for more than five minutes. I'm really clumsy. I can't do up buttons, I find it too difficult. I can feel hot and cold now but I still feel a bit numb," she said.

"Being discharged and at my parents' is definitely helping with my recovery because I had to do things for myself. I have to get dressed, make the bed and I can go to make a cup of tea. I'm definitely doing something right but it's slow going.

"It has been strange being on the other side but the ambulance crew who came out to me were amazing. They did a perfect job. They even stayed with me to hold my hand while I waited for my parents and blue-lighted me to the other hospital for my surgery, even though their shift had ended."

In addition to getting back to work as soon as possible, Natalie is hoping that by sharing her story, it will increase awareness of strokes in young people. While the odds are slim, she is living proof that they can and do happen - and the causes can be extremely innocuous.

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"I have been called out to so many people having strokes and they're always in their 70s or 80s. I have never been to a young person having a stroke. Mine was one in a million but a ruptured vertebral artery is actually quite a common cause of strokes in young people," she said.

"They will be in the gym or doing something quite physical and it happens. Strokes are also quite common in kids. It was a shock for me. I thought as a professional I would have an idea but even I didn't know. Normally if you're called out to a young person, you wouldn't do a test for a stroke."

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Natalie's parents, however, Peter, 65, and Anne, 62, are moving back to Australia in July. Her brother, Michael, 33, has set up a GoFundMe in a bid to help his sister raise the funds she needs to stay in London and return to work.

"When I woke up from surgery my brother told me he'd set up a fundraising page and all my friends and colleagues have been sharing it. Eighty percent of the donations are from people I work with which means so much. It's going to be so helpful," she said.

"I really want to get back in my own flat and I really don't want to have to move back to Australia. I love my work too much and I don't want to leave them."

If you would like to donate to Natalie's GoFundMe, you can do so here.

I am one of those people who simply cannot resist cracking my knuckles. The satisfaction I got from it is unheralded, and the more people who tell me to stop, the more likely I am to continue doing so.

However, for many people, the sound of cracking knuckles is up there with nails on a chalkboard and styrofoam blocks rubbing together. But, despite this, there is also plenty of people who, like me, are addicted to it.

But what happens to our knuckles when we crack them in frustration? Are we really more likely to get arthritis like we're constantly told as children?

Well, according to Harvard Health Publishing, the rumours are lies and cracking your knuckles doesn't increase the likelihood of arthritis. This result was drawn from several studies which compared the rates of arthritis between those who cracked on the regular and those who chose to refrain from this stomach-churning pastime.

One researcher decided to study himself, with him habitually popping the joints in his left knuckle while leaving his right untouched. He carried on the experiment for six decades (!!) and showed no signs of the increased possibility of arthritis in his left hand.

According to Harvard Health Publishing:

"The “pop” of a cracked knuckle is caused by bubbles bursting in the synovial fluid — the fluid that helps lubricate joints. The bubbles pop when you pull the bones apart, either by stretching the fingers or bending them backwards, creating negative pressure.

"One study’s authors compared the sudden, vibratory energy produced during knuckle cracking to “the forces responsible for the destruction of hydraulic blades and ship propellers.”

That said, according to some studies, the cracking of knuckles can lead to swollen hands and a weakened grip. Not only this, but there have been at least two reports of injuries suffered due to knuckle cracking.

According to the conclusions of one study that was published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases:

Although habitual knuckle cracking does not relate to osteoarthritis of the hand, it may relate to decreased hand function. Therefore, habitual knuckle cracking should be discouraged.

Back in 2015, University of Alberta researchers published image-based research which found that the popping noise is due to air bubble formations of synovial fluid surrounding the joints in the knuckle.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Professor Robert D. Boutin discussed the research, which saw 40 patients put under an ultrasound machine.

According to the professor, the team found ‘ultrasonic evidence’ of how pressure changes associated with joint fluid bubbles cause knuckle cracks:

"What we saw was a bright flash on ultrasound, like a firework exploding in the joint, It was quite an unexpected finding. […] I will tell you that we consistently saw the bright ‘flash’ in the joint only after we heard the audible crack."

So there you have it, cracking your knuckles has no detrimental effect on your health - you can tell that to your mom the next time she yells at you for cracking away.

A man has taken to social media to reveal how his neck-cracking habit landed him in the emergency room.

There are many people out there - myself included - who attempt to ease any body discomfort or pain with a simple neck crack. Sure, we all know we probably shouldn't be doing it, but when you're a little stiff after a long day's work, a quick head twist is a fast way to find some short-term relief.

However, after hearing this man's story, you'll realize that cracking your neck is a lot more dangerous than it seems, and - hopefully - you'll stop for good.

Sharing his story to TikTok, Kaden Thaddeus, who goes by the handle @ur.boi on the social media platform, revealed that he ended up in the emergency room after cracking his neck - a habit he admits he does every single day.

Credit: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

In Kaden's first video - which was accompanied with the sobering caption, "Don't crack your neck. Just don't" - the TikToker can be seen lying in a hospital bed.

Then, in a follow-up video, Kaden provided his 954,000 followers with an update on how his neck-cracking habit landed him in the ER.

Wearing a cervical collar, Kaden says in the video: "As I do every morning, I wake up and I crack everything. I crack my back, my knuckles, my neck, it's just natural for me.

"But this morning, I felt a crack so deep in my neck, I'm like, 'If I push my neck just a little bit farther, I'll get to that crack'."

Thaddeus continued: "So I pushed and it didn't come. So I pushed a little harder. And then I slipped a little bit..."

For those of you with a weak stomach, you may want to stop reading/watching here.

He continues: "Bro, my head was, like, sideways. I was like a Lego man ... And next thing I know, I can't turn my head to the right, it feels like someone's stabbing me in the neck and I'm in the emergency room."

Kaden later revealed he ended up with a condition called torticollis, which essentially means "twisted neck", and is caused by an extreme swelling of the neck muscles.

This 28-year-old man suffered a stroke after cracking his neck:

Per Healthline, "Cracking your neck can be harmful if you don’t do it correctly or if you do it too often."

The Healthline website adds: "Cracking your neck too forcefully can pinch the nerves in your neck.

"Pinching a nerve can be extremely painful and make it difficult or impossible to move your neck. Cracking your neck too hard can also strain the muscles around your joints and the joints themselves. When your muscles or joints become strained, moving your neck can feel like a chore."

And if that's not scary enough, Healthline adds: "Your neck is home to many important blood vessels. In some cases, cracking your neck too hard or too often can puncture one of these blood vessels. It can also cause blood clotting, which can be dangerous as it blocks blood flow to your brain."

So, there you have it. STOP CRACKING YOUR NECK.

Featured image credit: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

A woman has revealed that she nearly died after a "pop" in her chest during intercourse turned out to be a life-threatening medical condition.

The 45-year-old had just reached climax when she felt a sharp jolt of pain rush through her body, which prompted her and her husband to leave their home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to go to the emergency department of their nearest hospital.

The medical staff was told the woman was in a position where she was on her back with her legs pressed against her chest. She then suddenly felt discomfort in her chest.

When the woman was examined at the hospital, medical staff discovered that she experienced a form of acute aortic syndrome (AAS) - a potentially life-threatening condition.

Doctors found a leak in her aorta - a large artery that carries blood through the body. The condition is very scary, as for every hour a patient has not been treated, their odds of death rise by one percent.

This scan of the chest shows how the leaking aorta has affected the body. Credit: American Journal of Case Reports

Doctors gave the woman morphine and fentanyl to alleviate her pain, which managed to help her become more relaxed and less affected.

The woman had a medical history of hypertension (high blood pressure) and had been prescribed medication, however, she hadn't taken it for over a year.

The events surrounding the woman’s diagnosis have now been explored by scientists in the American Journal of Case Reports, after seeing that it was brought on by sexual intercourse.

"Our case is unusual in that our patient was a woman, who represents a smaller proportion of AAS cases, and she was having consensual sexual intercourse with her husband," researchers stated in the paper.

"However, she had baseline risk factors for AAS, including untreated, uncontrolled hypertension and a history of tobacco abuse," they continued.

A scan of the woman’s chest. Credit: American Journal of Case Reports

The article - titled 'Aortic Intramural Hematoma in a Female Patient During Sexual Intercourse' - also referenced heart attacks during sexual situations and how certain problems, such as cheating, can be a for people.

"The risk of sudden cardiac death also shows similar patterns, with an incidence reported at 0.19% in men and 0.16% in women, often noted during masturbation, sexual interaction with prostitutes, or extramarital sexual activity," researchers said.

"As previously mentioned, the risk of sudden cardiac death during sex has a correlation with adultery, which could be provoking an intensified or unforeseen emotional response that makes a person more predisposed to AAS or sudden cardiac death," they added.

Doctors believed that the woman's case was "unusual" considering her age, but they noted that her high blood pressure and history of smoking - six or seven cigarettes a day for 17 years - were common contributing factors to the condition.

Featured image credit: Axel Bueckert / Alamy