{"id":379139,"date":"2026-04-07T07:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379139\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:05:09","slug":"doctors-warn-of-spinal-cord-damage-as-neck-hanging-exercise-trends-among-china-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/379139\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors warn of spinal cord damage as \u2018neck-hanging exercise\u2019 trends among China youth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In an attempt to mimic cervical traction therapy used in hospitals, a new trend known as the \u201cneck-hanging exercise\u201d has emerged among young Chinese people.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The exercise involves people hanging by their head from trees to relieve cervical spondylosis.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to the 2024 China Cervical Spine Health White Paper, more than 200 million people in China suffer from cervical spine disorders, with over 40 per cent of patients under the age of 30.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Groups of young people take part in organised sessions of neck hanging. Photo: Weibo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/97e9efa4-a929-4caf-98f9-81913f623049_83445276.jpg\" title=\"Groups of young people take part in organised sessions of neck hanging. Photo: Weibo\"\/>Groups of young people take part in organised sessions of neck hanging. Photo: Weibo<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The new hanging trend has been gaining traction online, as increasing numbers of young people try it.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The practice was originally popular among older generations in China.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In many city parks, it is common to see elderly people hanging from trees in fitness areas, suspending their heads with ropes while their feet leave the ground, swaying back and forth like a pendulum.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Many believe that this mimics medical cervical traction therapy, helping to relieve neck pain and provide therapeutic benefits.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A woman in a surgical mask performs the controversial \u201ctherapy\u201d. Photo: Weibo\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d58643f4-299c-418f-bf42-28d1fd2fcf3f_340ebc94.jpg\" title=\"A woman in a surgical mask performs the controversial \u201ctherapy\u201d. Photo: Weibo\"\/>A woman in a surgical mask performs the controversial \u201ctherapy\u201d. Photo: Weibo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an attempt to mimic cervical traction therapy used in hospitals, a new trend known as the \u201cneck-hanging&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[45640,181562,1501,4208,181556,1657,3388,25928,181554,181564,12956,181566,970,181563,1372,2114,41395,589,33355,19293,181555,15076,163,4144,85,46,27820,32600,28330,34803,504,37537,2317,1860,5163,10539,130148,1691,181557,101031,66666,33359,57501,181558,181559,181567,181560,30318,3073,181561,1308,452,181565,26397,8970,10155],"class_list":{"0":"post-379139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-air-force","9":"tag-angle","10":"tag-benefits","11":"tag-blood","12":"tag-cervical","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-chinese","15":"tag-condition","16":"tag-cord","17":"tag-dislocation","18":"tag-disorder","19":"tag-dizziness","20":"tag-doctors","21":"tag-duration","22":"tag-exercise","23":"tag-experts","24":"tag-feet","25":"tag-fitness","26":"tag-fractures","27":"tag-generations","28":"tag-hanging","29":"tag-head","30":"tag-health","31":"tag-hospital","32":"tag-il","33":"tag-israel","34":"tag-nausea","35":"tag-neck","36":"tag-nerves","37":"tag-older","38":"tag-pain","39":"tag-paralysis","40":"tag-parks","41":"tag-popular","42":"tag-professional","43":"tag-rehabilitation","44":"tag-relieve","45":"tag-risk","46":"tag-ropes","47":"tag-scary","48":"tag-shoulder","49":"tag-spinal","50":"tag-supervision","51":"tag-suspending","52":"tag-swaying","53":"tag-terrifying","54":"tag-therapeutic","55":"tag-therapist","56":"tag-therapy","57":"tag-traction","58":"tag-treatment","59":"tag-trees","60":"tag-vessels","61":"tag-warn","62":"tag-weight","63":"tag-youth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}