Okay, my answer is going to a be a little winded...
I had a severe car accident where I was rear ended. She was going 70 whilst on her cell phone, I was stopped at a red light. My dodge dakota seats don't have seperate head rests, they seat back is just very tall. So I had a incredible amount of neck and low back pain. Two years latter and not much better I was rear ended again, this time not as severe. At work the pain would be so bad I literally had to hold my head up with my hands.
The first chiropractor I went to was a butcher. His adjustment was the same proceedure everytime. Low back twist [crack, crack], middle back press [crack/pop], and then popping my neck like Rambo breaks necks. The insurance covered it, but twice a week for 8 weeks seemed excessive. I left each appt feeling less pain, but was very tender. Then by chance I found another chiropractor. He's start out the appt with having me look up, left and right. Moving my arms, bending forward. His low and middle back adjustments were the same as the first chiro BUT after each technique he'd have stand up and move around. After a few appointments I got better and describing to him what I was feeling. With my neck he would make a small to medium adjustment and then have me sit up. With the bigger scarier cracks he'd have me walk around the office building and come back while he tended to other patients. He was great and I never got the same cracking regimen twice. Each visit was based on how I was feeling and the extra 5 min he took with me really paid off.
For my birthday my wife got me a membership to Massage Envy. A membership based massage franchise. I would puposely pick therapists who were strong and most importantly listen to them. In a 60min session I'd demand 40 min on my neck and 20 min on my back. I wasn't interested in legs or arms or other muscle groups.
A few years later I'd say my neck is 99% recovered. That's major considering just how messed up it was and the amount of pain killers I was taking. I haven't had any serious problems except for a day of go karting where some friends and I spent an afternoon rear ending each other. I also spent a day organizing tall shelves in the garage and looking up all that time left me really sore the next day.
So after learning all these lessons the hard way here's my advice: Find chiropractor that listens! Stay the heck away from chiropractors who want to sell packages, perscribe followups, or offer any kind of snake oil such as laser treatments, pills, shoes, etc. The reason for all of those add-ons is because their chiropractic skills aren't paying the bills.
The incidents of strokes due to popping your neck is complete and utter bull. If moving your neck is going to induce a stroke then more people should stroke out when they wash their hair or move their neck. And no, chiropractic is NOT addictive. But if done wrong you have to keep going back.
Trust yourself to analyize your sleeping posture. Is it stiff in the morning from the way you sleep? If so then it could be the way you sleep or your pillow being too thick, too thin, too hard, or too soft. I found sleeping on my back my pillow was so thick. I switched to bath towels layered and folded. Now I can sleep with no pillow when I sleep on my back and a medium pillow when I sleep on my side.
Do you not hurt in the morning but do at the end of the day? Well then maybe it's the way you sit, drive, etc.
Find a theraputic massage therapist. That means again, somebody that will listen to what you want. And will use enough pressure to be uncomfortable, but not so much it hurts you in other ways.
I think that getting the chiro to set the bones back in place, using massage to help heal the muscle and break up scar tissue, and being very good about ergonomics your neck will recover.
