Question: For starters, I had a lengthy history of popping my own neck for many years. Never had any problems with that up until two years ago after one pop which left me feeling brain foggy and disoriented. I vouched to never again pop my own neck, and I didn%E2%80%99t. Short after, I got my atlas adjusted by a chiropractor and that was fine, had no problems with that. However, as of this year (about two months ago to be precise) I started having a weird situation happen on the side that I would pop my neck on. What began happening was what feels like range of motion is limited on that side to a certain point. When I go past that point where it feels like it gets stuck, there is a high-pitched pop. So not a deep sounding one, but almost like it%E2%80%99s a small bone popping. It happens about a couple of times a day, and up until today it was just annoying to deal with. Today, however, I began feeling light-headed and dizzy right after the pop (which I don%E2%80%99t mean to do but it happens as I%E2%80%99m doing stuff around the house. Now I have some disorientation or vertigo, not sure. I might mention I also went to the chiropractor today for an adjustment (everything went fine). This pop also occurs almost like at the base of my skull, at the top of my neck. Can anybody tell me what this could be? What I need to do? If I should be worried? I don%E2%80%99t even know where to start. I also have TMJ problems on that same side, not sure if this is worth noting.

Thank you for your response. I guess I should also mention that I don%E2%80%99t experience any pain at all. Just tightness in my upper back, neck, and jaw at times. Accompanying the tightness, I also experience a lot of crunching and grinding on those same regions. But no pain, just the occasional vertigo and disorientation. The upper back problems I%E2%80%99ve had for many years. The TMJ only started when I was 24, so just about 5 years ago. Not sure if this info further helps assume the cause. I also wanted to ask, what causes the difficulty concentrating and vertigo in this case? I don%E2%80%99t experience it al the time, just every so often. And last question, what is usually done to help problems like these? Thank you again so much for putting my mind at ease. I thought I was going to have a stroke.

I went to the doctor today to get an Xray done of my cervical spine. My question is how does TMJ affect my neck? And how could my neck put pressure on the vestibular organs in my ear? Is that possible? I ask because it%E2%80%99s when my neck gets %E2%80%9Cstuck%E2%80%9D then clicks into place that%E2%80%99s when I feel disoriented. Only when it feels really stuck. Other times it%E2%80%99s a very light click and I feel fine. But when it does affect me, I feel disoriented, like even my emotions are blah, headache, and even like my eyesight is affected. This is where I%E2%80%99m just wondering if it coukd tie in to TMJ since it%E2%80%99s the clicking in my neck causing all those symptoms I don%E2%80%99t understand.