Yeah you can always try out physical therapy, got the same cracking every morning, CT, MRI showed nothing, probably a whiplash injury.

In my case my left necks muscle is badly damaged and strained as hell, that muscle is connected to head....

The claim that any moving of Atlas would cause instant death is a sign of ignorance. Yes, too much movement would. That is what killed Nascar's Dale Earnheart. It is called an internal decapitation.

Upper cervical chiros only cause very small movements. It is not a scam. Some people do not respond to the small movements but many do.

One can have an out of position Atlas without any symptoms just as much as reducing the out of alignment of Atlas can result in no improvements.

The spine surgeons often lead this crusade against the chiros.

Can that muscle be repaired or the damage is permanent?

I will try physical therapy, tomorrow ill go to my doctor. It cant do no harm...

Regarding atlas discussion... The atlas practitioner i went to had no education about human anatomy seems to me, he only had some posters about it, lol. I guess NUCCA is something different.

"The spine surgeons often lead this crusade against the chiros." - I think this says it all. Who knows more about human anatomy, spine surgeons or chiros?

Do you know anyone personally who had significant improvements after neck adjustment?

One needs to put spine surgeon in perspective. For someone with lower back pain who goes to a spine surgeon, there are statistically three outcomes. the stats show that at 12 months post surgery, one-third will feel better. One-third will feel the same. And one-third will feel worse.

There is also research about imaging the spine. There are just as many who are asymptomatic who show an injury to their spine as there are those who show no injury to their spine yet have serious symptoms.

The spine is difficult to treat. Spine surgeons have no better track record than chiropractors. In fact, chiropractors very rarely make the patient's spine worse.

But, not all chiropractors are equal in their skills. A NUCCA chiro is vastly different that a twist and pop chiropractor.

But, this does not mean there are not plenty of incompetent chiros or at least, chiros who are more focused on the business of making money that healing.

Its not permanent.

Tell therapist about it, she will exercise you, and you will get hes/her opinion about it, i hope my neck wont have problems for so long time as you, feel sorry for you.

With your neck, just a thought, you might want to look into going to a physical therapist or a pain management clinic. I'm currently going to a clinic, and I know what you mean about the tight muscles. I've had post concussive syndrome for a year and I have tight neck, facial and jaw muscles, though I didn't know it until I had my first appointment. I was clenching everything subconsciously. According to my doctor it's what's prolonging my post-concussive syndrome. I'm currently at a clinic, and I'm seeing a doctor, psychologist, dentist (for the jaw) and physical therapist together. They all communicate with each other to outline the best treatment for me, and are trying to teach me how to relax these muscles. So far I'm weaning off my medication and my headaches are doing better. I also know what you mean about the alcohol. I can't have any without aggravating my headaches, but if I have a glass of wine I can keep it under control. I'm hoping it goes away with time, because before I couldn't even have a glass, but we'll see.

Good call on cutting out glutamine. I've read that it plays a big role in the damage being done during concussion.

The fresh air is spot on too. I've found the more time I spent outside in the fresh air, the quicker my recovery.

I don't think milk is a problem. I've been drinking plenty with no problem.

I'll add a couple of things: Acetyl-L-Carnitine available at Vitamin Shoppe (I've taken 500mg off and on for the past few months and noticed I had a massive improvement when I started).

BCAAs are something I'm going to try.

Resveratrol is apparently real good as well. I've been reading about its use in boxing and how it seemed to help fighters after a bout. It's in red wine, so if you want to drink anything alcohol...or just buy it in supplement form.

Oh, and keep your protein intake high.

Looks like you're well sussed on what's going on.