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: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.
![](https://img.vt.co/2019/05/625cae7b-screen-shot-2019-05-03-at-08.39.04.png)
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."
![](https://img.vt.co/2019/05/e4f31636-screen-shot-2019-05-03-at-08.40.40.png)
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.